The ancient spruce trees of the Tongass National Forest are columns that support a forest cathedral. Without these 500-year-old giants, much of the life below them would collapse. Soaring over 200 feet high, their broad, moss-draped limbs furnish nests for birds. In the winter, their canopy acts like a warm coat for the wildlife on the forest floor, blocking harsh snows and preserving bushes that sustain wildlife through the coldest months.

Yet the Bush administration wants to let logging companies tear down these trees and all the life they support. Although the 2001 Roadless Rule halted logging and road construction in wild national forests, the administration later issued an exemption for the Tongass, stripping America's rainforest of vital safeguards and opening the way for more clearcutting and destructive road-building.

Already, nearly 6,000 miles of logging roads cut through the Tongass. Built with taxpayer subsidies, the vast majority of these are abandoned logging roads that the Forest Service cannot afford to maintain. Left to crumble, they degrade wildlife habitat, despoil forest streams and clog precious fish spawning grounds with silty run-off.

Urge the Forest Service to protect the Tongass National Forest's last remaining roadless areas and abandon efforts to increase logging in America's rainforest.

Photo credits: Stikine River, © Don Pitcher, Alaska Stock. Grizzly bear, © Garth Lenz.