The My name is Dan Cannon. I'm the Tonggus Forest Program Manager at the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council.

Siaq, as we call it, is based in Juno Alaska on Aquan lands.

And my work involves protecting the Tongass, which is the traditional

homelands of the Klinget, Haida, and Shimshin.

So today we'll be talking about the Tongass National Forest and the Roadless Rule, which forbids road construction and industry in areas of the U.S. National Forest in order to preserve those areas.

Did I get that about right?

Yeah, I mean, it's a federal safeguard

that restricts logging and road building

on roughly 58 million acres of National Forest Service lands.

And specifically here in southeast Alaska

9.3 million acres of the Tongass National Forest.

So for people who might be unfamiliar with the Tongass National Forest, how would you describe it?

Oh, the Tongass is beautiful. The Tongass is our backyard. It spans across the entire southeastern panhandle of the state.

It's 17 million acres. It's the largest national forest and it's a rich landscape. It's a wonderland of

glacier-carved fjords, thick green forest of old-growth hemlock, spruce and cedar, spongy carpets of muscag, expansive fields of rock and glaciers,

it's truly a site to see him and that's why millions of visitors come here every year.

What kind of animals and plants live in the Tongass?

Yeah, so the Tongass is home to all five species

of Western salmon. It's home to black and brown bears. It's home to

lots of bald eagles, gosh hawks. It's home to Sitka, Blackfield, deer, moose, all the fun woodland creatures, even down to the small ones, like there's

flying squirrels on the tungus.

And then in terms of plants, you know, you have 800 year old old growth trees that are just incredible to see. You have hillsides full of Devil's Club which is definitely something you don't want to hike through

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