Tell Senate to leave pristine Alaska alone

Sealaska controversy spreads to New Hampshire. Alaska is truly the last frontier where massive old growth forests still exist. The Sealaska Bill (S.881) targets for clear cut logging, some of the most beautiful, pristine and biologically productive roadless areas within the Tongass National Forest — America's largest.

Over the past decade, the old growth forests of the continuous United States have been stripped, clear cut and mined until only a few tiny pockets of land remain.

Alaska is truly the last frontier where massive old growth forests still exist. The Sealaska Bill (S.881) which comes up for a hearing before the Senate energy and Natural Resources Committee on March 17, would claim land entitlements (65,000 acres) within the boundaries set aside under the Alaska Native Claims settlement act. The legislation targets for clear cut logging, some of the most beautiful, pristine and biologically productive roadless areas within the Tongass National Forest — America's largest.

This destruction would impact commercial fisheries, native tribes and the tourism industry, among others. As a visitor to this area myself this year, I was in awe of the unspoiled beauty of the Alaskan panhandle and disgusted as the pristine forests gave way to the scars of clear-cut logging, once we entered the Canadian inside passage. Is it not enough that we have destroyed most of the once massive old growth wilderness in the lower 48 states?

Mariah Johnson
Portsmouth

Read the editorial at the Portsmouth Herald.