View from a helicopter of a clearcut and logging road in the Tongass forest

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Resources, Tongass National Forest info, and more.

Sustainable Forestry

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an organization that encourages practices that will make sure there is a future for our world’s forests.

Make a difference with what you buy.

Forest Stewardship Council logoPurchase FSC wood products. By choosing wood and wood products that are FSC-certified you are ensuring that the wood you purchase has been sustainably harvested. Currently on sale at Staples, Home Depot, Crate and Barrel, West Elm, Williams and Sonoma, Costco…..look on the back of those birthday cards you buy. Hunt for this logo and know that the paper, furniture, and wood you buy comes from sustainable forests that protect old growth areas and supports the economy of the region.

Learn More About the Tongass Forest Land Issues:
  • As of January 2015, Sealaska’s Land Bill was passed by Congress. We provide the links below to learn more details of the Tongass and related land issues.
  • Sealaska is the largest non-federal landholder in Southeast Alaska. There is currently no restriction on the size of clear cuts on privately owned land in Alaska; US Government-owned Federal lands have restricted limits of 100 acres of clear-cut.
  • “Following decades of controversial logging involving ‘high grading’ (i.e., logging that targets the largest and most valuable old‐growth trees) the remaining stands of very large‐tree old‐growth are extremely rare and account for only 0.5 percent of the Tongass.”
    — America’s Rainforest at Risk, a report published by Audubon; more on Audubon’s Tongass page.
  • “In the lower 48 states, 96 percent of old-growth forest of all types has been cut down. The Tongass now represents not only the greatest remaining reserve of huge trees in the U.S., but also nearly one-third of the old-growth temperate rain forest left in the world.”
    — The Truth about Tongass published in National Geographic.
  • An open letter from 300 of the world’s-leading scientists raises serious concerns with the Sealaska bill that would endanger some of America’s last remaining old-growth National Forests:  http://www.pewtrusts.org/news_room_detail.aspx?id=85899399285
  • Visual comparison of the size of old-growth Sitka Spruce, they can also reach up to a millenium in age.
image showing that the statue of liberty, Big Ben, and a sitka spruce tree are all around 300ft tall

Native American Resources:
  • “We can manage a large resource, take commodities, derive income from it, and still have a pristine looking forest, clean air, clean water, and spiritual feelings from the forest. And we’ve got more timber now than when we started.”
    — from a video on the Menominee Native American tribe of Neopit, Wisconsin, who are FSC certified loggers.
  • Sealaska Shareholders Underground, a facebook group where Sealaska shareholders can speak freely about their Corporation
  • There are a number of good resources on the Alaska Native Claim Settlement Act (ANCSA), the Act that created the Native Corporations and attempted to deal with Native claims on Alaskan land: one from the Alaska Humanities Forum, the Annotated ANCSA by Paul Ongtooguk and the Wikipedia entry.

Guitar Makers’ Efforts:
  • “Sustaining the supply of natural materials isn’t a new idea in the musical instrument industry, which depends on old-growth wood to achieve the best tonal quality.”  http://uk.reuters.com/article/2008/03/23/us-forests-idUKN2222683220080323
  • Martin & Co, the oldest surviving guitar maker, has made sustainable wood guitars out of cherry and has a number of entirely FSC-certified guitars, including Jeff Tweedy’s signature model. http://www.martinguitar.com/guitars/guitars/itemlist/category/59-certified-woods.html