The Uncosted West · Episode 11 of 15 · 33 min
Why Taxpayers Pay Billions to Log the Tongass Rainforest
The Tongass is the largest national forest in the country and the biggest intact temperate rainforest on Earth, and the government has lost on the order of $1.7 billion logging it since 1980. The episode tells the story through Cold War pulp contracts, the Roadless Rule and the 2025 move to rescind it, and the stakes for salmon, carbon, and Alaska Native subsistence.
Who's who
- Brooke Rollins+4 more episodesAgriculture Secretary who announced the Roadless Rule rescission in 2025
- Theodore Roosevelt+14 more episodesPresident who established the Tongass National Forest in 1907
- Dan Sullivan+4 more episodesAlaska senator supporting the rescission
- Lisa Murkowski+3 more episodesAlaska senator supporting the rescission
- Nick Begich+1 more episodeAlaska congressman supporting the rescission
Where it happens
- Tongass National Forest, Alaska+1 more episodeLargest national forest, 16.7 million acres
- Ward Cove, Ketchikan, AlaskaSite of the Ketchikan pulp mill, 1954 to 1997
- Sitka, Alaska+3 more episodesSite of the Alaska Pulp Corporation mill
Timeline
- 1951Ketchikan Pulp signs a 50-year Tongass timber contract
- 1990Tongass Timber Reform Act ends an automatic subsidy
- 1993 and 1997Sitka and Ketchikan pulp mills close
- January 2001Roadless Area Conservation Rule finalized
- June 23, 2025Administration announces plan to rescind the Roadless Rule nationwide
Still debated
The $1.7 billion loss figure depends on how road and administrative costs are allocated, though the net loss is not seriously disputed. How many jobs renewed logging would create, how much old growth would be cut, and the outcome of the rescission are unsettled, and Native opinion is not uniform.
← PreviousThe Spotted Owl, the Timber Wars, and the Real Value of Old GrowthNext →Alaska's Zinc Boom and the Collapse of the Yukon Salmon
Connected episodes in other series
Who DecidesFishing for a Solution · Episode 11Also features Dan Sullivan, Lisa Murkowski
The Greatest Good? How the Forest Service Promised to Manage Public LandThe Long Run · Episode 1Also features Brooke Rollins, Theodore Roosevelt
Dead ReckoningStorm Warning: America's Earth Science · Episode 12Also features Dan Sullivan
Mail at the End of the RoadNeither Snow Nor Rain · Episode 5Also features Lisa Murkowski