Act Now to Prevent Tongass National Forest Privatization!

The US House of Representatives has passed a bill to transfer 115,200 acres of Alaska's Tongass National Forest to corporations.

We have alarming news.

H.R. 41, known as the "landless bill," was just passed out of the U.S. House of Representatives by unanimous consent. This legislation would transfer 115,000 acres of public land into private ownership, including 80,000 acres of ancient forests containing trees up to 10 feet in diameter and more than 1,000 years old. 60,000 acres of these lands are currently roadless wilderness areas protected under the 2001 Roadless Rule; they represent some of the most intact old-growth temperate rainforests on earth.

While this bill is often perceived as a land-back effort, it does not transfer land to Indigenous communities. Instead, it would transfer land to shareholder-owned corporations with an extensive history of large-scale resource extraction. Sealaska, a major native corporation in Southeast Alaska, has bankrolled the campaign to pass this bill and would receive the mineral rights to these newly privatized areas. Read Tlingit activist and Sealaska shareholder and Alaska native Wanda Culp's op-ed outlining her opposition to this bill.

Learn about S.2554

This is an all-hands-on-deck moment for the Tongass National Forest. Similar land transfers in 2014 and 2017 resulted in the largest wave of old-growth clearcutting in the Tongass in decades. This bill would be even worse, representing the largest transfer of public land into private ownership in Southeast Alaska since 1971.

After a decade of failed attempts to pass this legislation, it is now headed to the Senate, where we will have our last opportunity to prevent it from becoming law. Alaska's congressional delegation is strongly aligned with resource extraction interests, so conservation-minded voices from the Lower 48 will play a critical role in opposing this bill.Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray have the power to help stop this legislation by ensuring that it does not get attached to must-pass legislation like the Farm Bill or the National Defense Authorization Act.

Please take two minutes to call your senators and ask them to oppose Senate Bill S.2554, and to ensure that it does not get added to must-pass omnibus legislation. Tell them to keep public lands in public hands.

TAKE ACTION

Call the Congressional switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected with Senator Maria Cantwell's office. Then do the same for Senator Patty Murray. Once you are connected, you can use the call script below. Make sure to leave a voicemail if the office does not pick up.

CALL SCRIPT:

Hi, my name is [Your Name], and I'm a constituent in Washington State. I’m calling to ask Senator [Cantwell / Murray] to strongly oppose Senate Bill S.2554, and to filibuster it if it comes up for a vote.

I am extremely concerned that this bill would transfer over 115,000 acres of the Tongass National Forest to for-profit corporations. I am even more concerned that the acreage chosen for transfer under this legislation includes 80,000 acres of old-growth forest and 60,000 acres of roadless areas.

Instead of settling outstanding ANCSA (Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act) claims by privatizing some of America's last wild places, Congress should investigate alternative forms of compensation.

Thank you for your time and for passing this along to the Senator.

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