据报道，特朗普政府正寻求取消覆盖阿拉斯加通加斯国家森林的一套长达20年的伐木限制。
通加斯位于该州东南部，是美国最大的国家森林，占地1670万英亩。
2001年，克林顿政府引入了所谓的“无道路规则”，限制了全国范围内的伐木和道路建设。但是华盛顿邮报报道称，唐纳德·特朗普总统已指示农业部长桑尼·濮培德解除在通加斯的这些限制，以便森林不受这些规定的约束，他引用了三个私下听取有关该问题简报的消息来源。
环保组织警告称，最新的举措可能会让世界上最大的完整温带雨林——通加斯一半以上的土地开放给伐木、采矿和能源项目。
阿拉斯加非营利政策顾问帕特里克·拉文告诉《野生动物保护者》，这是政府为了少数人的私人利益出卖国家公共土地遗产的另一个例子新闻周刊。
森林的命运一直不确定。在过去的二十年里，伐木业和它在国会的朋友们一直热衷于开发森林的巨大自然资源。然而，环境组织、当地土著社区和一些政治家强烈反对。
根据美国农业部(USDA)的数据，2001年出台的无道路地区保护条例规定，除了一些例外，禁止在国家森林体系土地上的5850万英亩库存无道路地区进行道路建设、道路重建和木材采伐。)“2001年《无道路规则》涵盖的无道路地区清单包括通加斯国家森林的920万英亩(55%)。"
但在2003年，乔治·布什政府部分推翻了这一规定，向伐木卡车开放了230万英亩土地，纽约时报报道。在这十年的剩余时间里，林务局和联邦法院的几项裁决改变了无道路规则的地位，支持还是反对伐木。
最终，一名联邦法官在2011年裁定通加斯森林不应被免除克林顿时代的规则。大约570万英亩的森林被国会指定为荒野，这意味着这些地区不能被触及。然而，取消无道路规则可能会开发约920万英亩土地。
一些备受瞩目的阿拉斯加州代表，如州长迈克·邓利维(右)和参议员莉萨·穆尔科斯基(右)都公开反对这项规定。
穆尔科斯基告诉记者，“永远不应该把这条规则应用于我们的国家”邮报他补充说，这“损害了我们为东南部地区发展可持续的全年经济的能力，因为那里只有不到1%的土地是私有的。”
“木材工业急剧衰退，令人惊讶的是，在我们国家最大的国家森林中，仅存的几家工厂不得不不断担心供应不足，”她说。
然而，出于几个原因，环保团体一直批评特朗普政府的最新举措。致力于对环境问题提起诉讼的非营利公共利益组织地球正义称，如果美国农业部批准了针对特定州的规定，它将取代现有的无道路规定，并为林务局瓜分汤加斯铺平道路，“一切都是为了施舍给工业”
“该规则的环境影响声明草案将于下月发布，它将为几十年来禁止通行的地区的新伐木道路奠定基础，”一份声明提供给新闻周刊由地球正义阅读。"这将极大地影响周边社区、旅游业、商业捕鱼业和海鲜业."
阿拉斯加东南部会议的数据显示，截至2017年，阿拉斯加的木材工业一直在衰退，在该州东南部的就业岗位中所占比例不到1%，相比之下，旅游业为17%，海鲜业为8.5%。
“更扭曲的是，联邦政府对木材行业的补贴在汤加被放大了，”地球正义的声明继续说道。“平均而言，如果把通加斯的所有道路建设和木材销售成本都考虑在内，通加斯木材销售计划每年花费纳税人2600万美元，而回报仅为169万美元，在过去20年里，每年平均损失超过2400万美元——主要是因为建造和维护新的伐木道路的成本过高。那么，为什么我们纳税人被迫支持一个过时的、不受欢迎的行业？”
阿拉斯加通加斯国家森林中多雾的峡湾。
但是，除了经济方面的考虑，专家们也提出了对潜在环境影响的担忧，如果汤加斯对新的伐木业开放的话。全世界的注意力都集中在亚马逊雨林中燃烧的火焰森林砍伐和气候不稳定之间有联系。
阿拉斯加朱诺地球正义公司的首席律师埃里克·乔根森说:“特朗普总统对汤加斯国家森林的袭击就像亚马逊燃烧的大火——这对一个主要的气候变化缓冲区以及具有全球意义的土地和野生动物构成了巨大威胁。”新闻周刊。“通加斯的野生无路地区提供了重要的野生动物栖息地，并支持阿拉斯加东南部的旅游业和渔业，这是该地区的经济支柱。”
“森林保护原始水源，并为阿拉斯加土著人民提供不可替代的文化和生存价值，”他说。“它的老树是美国国家森林中最大的碳保护区，帮助我们所有人平衡气候变化。如果道路和链锯被允许分割，这一生态丰富的景观及其带来的所有好处都将不复存在。没有充分的理由撤销对汤加人的保护。地球正义将反对对“无路规则”明智建立的保障措施的每一次攻击。”
Lavin附和了这些观点，他说移除古树可能会降低森林未来储存碳的能力——这一过程减轻了气候变化的影响。他还指出，伐木业的增长可能对森林生态系统产生重大影响。
“木材工业已经瞄准并清除了通加斯许多最大、最有价值、最易接近的古老森林，这种做法被称为‘高等级’他说:“被清查的无路地区(IRAs)包含了汤加岛上剩余的一半古老森林栖息地，并支持依赖古老生长的野生动物物种，如锡卡黑尾鹿、亚历山大群岛狼、北方苍鹰等。”。
“在景观尺度上，开放独立监管机构进行伐木和筑路将破坏和进一步破坏野生动物栖息地，降低生态功能和连通性，最终降低物种的生存能力。拉文补充说:“在某些特定的地区，这种影响可能会导致大部分稀有的‘大树’老生长栖息地的丧失，以及依赖于该栖息地的毗连和相连街区的物种被当地灭绝。”。
拉文将北美最大的沿海雨林通加斯描述为国家森林体系的“皇冠上的宝石”，强调其生态和经济重要性。
他说:“沿海雨林在全球范围内非常罕见，仅占地球总森林面积的0.5%，在向海洋输送养分方面发挥着关键作用。”。“通加斯高产的河流和小溪支持着商业和体育渔业，年产值总计10亿美元，以及作为阿拉斯加东南部当地社区生命线的自给性渔业。”
“通加斯的娱乐和旅游每年为区域经济再提供10亿美元。残余的木材工业现在提供了不到1%的地区就业和工资，但是砍伐森林的不可持续性质造成了巨大的环境影响。随着时间的推移，通加斯可以支持该地区繁荣的生计、渔业、娱乐和旅游业，但这些可持续的产业需要一个健康的森林才能继续发展。他说:“砍伐森林对经济贡献甚微，并剥夺了汤加人的真正价值。”。
TRUMP TO LIFT LOGGING RESTRICTIONS IN AMERICA'S LARGEST NATIONAL FOREST: A CLIMATE CHANGE THREAT 'LIKE THE FIRES BURNING IN THE AMAZON,' WARNS EXPERT
The Trump administration is looking to remove a 20-year-old set of logging restrictions covering the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, according to reports.
Tongass—located in the southeast of the state—is the largest national forest in the United States encompassing 16.7 million acres.
In 2001, the Clinton administration introduced the so-called "Roadless Rule" which put limitations on logging and road construction across the country. But The Washington Post reported that President Donald Trump has directed Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to lift these restrictions at Tongass so that the forest is exempt from these rules, citing three sources who were briefed privately on the issue.
The latest moves could potentially open up more than half of Tongass—the world's largest intact temperate rain forest—to logging, mining and energy projects, environmental groups warn.
"[This] is another example of the administration's penchant for selling out our nation's public land legacy for the private gain of a limited few," Patrick Lavin, Alaska Policy Advisor for non-profit, Defenders of Wildlife, told Newsweek.
The fate of the forest has long been uncertain. For the past two decades, the logging industry and its friends in Congress have been keen to exploit the forest's vast natural resources. However, there has been significant opposition from environmental groups, local Native communities and some politicians.
The Roadless Area Conservation Rule—introduced in 2001 established prohibitions with some exceptions on road construction, road reconstruction, and timber harvest on 58.5 million acres of inventoried roadless areas on National Forest System lands," according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA.) "Inventoried Roadless Areas covered by the 2001 Roadless Rule comprise 9.2 million acres—55 percent—of the Tongass National Forest."
But in 2003, the George W. Bush administration partially reversed the rule, opening up 2.3 million acres to logging trucks, The New York Times reported. Over the remainder of the decade several rulings by the Forest Service and federal courts changed the status of the Roadless Rule, either in favor or against logging.
Eventually, a federal judge ruled in 2011 that the Tongass forest should not be exempted from the Clinton-era rule. Approximately 5.7 million acres of the forest are designated as wilderness by Congress meaning that these areas cannot be touched. However, a lifting of the Roadless Rule could open up around 9.2 million acres to development.
Some high-profile Alaska representatives, such as Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R) and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R,) have spoken out against the rule.
The rule "should never have been applied to our state" Murkowski told The Post adding that it is "harming our ability to develop a sustainable, year-round economy for the Southeast region, where less than one percent of the land is privately held."
"The timber industry has declined precipitously, and it is astonishing that the few remaining mills in our nation's largest national forest have to constantly worry about running out of supply," she said.
Environmental groups, however, have been critical of the Trump administration's latest moves for several reasons. Earthjustice, a non-profit public interest organization dedicated to litigating environmental issues, says that if the state-specific rule is approved by the USDA, it would supersede the existing Roadless Rule and pave the way fro the Forest Service to carve up Tongass, "all for a handout to industry."
"The draft environmental impact statement for the rule, due out next month, would lay the groundwork for new logging roads in areas that have been off-limits for decades," a statement provided to Newsweek by Earthjustice read. "This would drastically affect surrounding communities, tourism, and commercial fishing and seafood industries."
The timber industry in Alaska has long been in decline and is responsible for less than 1 percent of jobs in the southeast of the state—as of 2017—in comparison to 17 percent for tourism and 8.5 percent for the seafood industry, according to data from the Alaska Southeast Conference.
"What's even more warped is that the economics of federal subsidies for the timber industry are magnified in the Tongass," the statement from Earthjustice continues. "On average, and if all road building and timber sale costs on the Tongass are taken in to account, the Tongass timber sale program costs taxpayers $26 million each year while yielding just $1.69 million in return, for an average loss of more than $24 million dollars each year for over the last 20 years—largely due to the exorbitant costs of building and maintaining new logging roads. So why are we taxpayers being forced to support an archaic, unwanted industry?"
Misty Fjord in the Tongass National Forest, Alaska.
But aside from economic considerations, experts have also raised concerns about the potential environmental implications, if Tongass is opened up to new logging. With the world's attention focused on fires burning in the Amazon rain forest, the link is being made between deforestation and climate destabilization.
"President Trump's attack on the Tongass National Forest is like the fires burning in the Amazon—it's a huge threat to a major climate change buffer and to lands and wildlife that have global significance," Eric Jorgensen, managing attorney for Earthjustice in Juneau, Alaska, told Newsweek. "The wild, roadless areas of the Tongass offer critical wildlife habitat and support Southeast Alaskan tourism and fishing businesses, the economic mainstays of the region."
"The forest protects pristine water sources and provides irreplaceable cultural and subsistence value to Alaska Native people," he said. "Its old growth trees are the greatest carbon sanctuary in the U.S. national forests, helping us all as a counterweight against climate change. This ecologically rich landscape and all the benefits it brings will be lost if roads and chainsaws are allowed to carve it up. There is no good reason to roll back protections for the Tongass. Earthjustice will oppose every attack on the safeguards wisely established by the Roadless Rule."
Lavin echoed these sentiments, saying that removing the ancient trees could reduce the future ability of the forest to store carbon—a process that mitigates the impact of climate change. He also noted the significant impact a rise in logging could have on the forest's ecosystem.
"The timber industry has already targeted and removed many of the largest, most valuable and most accessible ancient forest stands in the Tongass, a practice known as 'high-grading.' Inventoried Roadless Areas (IRAs) contain about half of the remaining old-growth forest habitat on the Tongass and support old-growth dependent wildlife species such as Sitka black-tailed deer, Alexander Archipelago wolves, northern goshawks and many more," he said.
"At the landscape scale, opening IRAs to logging and roadbuilding will destroy and further fragment wildlife habitat, reducing ecological function and connectivity, and ultimately species' viability. In some specific regions, the effect could be the loss of most of the rare 'large tree' old growth habitat and local extirpation of species dependent on contiguous and connected blocks of that habitat," Lavin added.
Lavin describes Tongass—the largest coastal rain forest in North America—as the "crown jewel" of the National Forest System, highlighting its ecological and economic importance.
"Coastal rainforests are globally rare, constituting just 0.5 percent of the earth's total forested area, and play a critical role in the delivery of nutrients to the oceans," he said. "The highly productive rivers and streams of the Tongass support commercial and sport fisheries totaling $1 billion in annual value, and subsistence fisheries that are the lifeblood of the local southeast Alaska communities."
"Recreation and tourism on the Tongass provide another $1 billion annually to the regional economy. The vestigial timber industry now provides less than 1 percent of regional employment and wages, but the unsustainable nature of clearcut logging creates an outsized environmental impact. The Tongass can support the region's thriving subsistence, fishing, recreation and tourism industries over time, but those sustainable industries need a healthy forest in order to continue. Clearcutting that forest contributes little to the economy and takes away from the real value of the Tongass," he said.
