Support the strong Wilderness alternative for the Chugach National Forest!
Submit a comment through our friends at Alaska Wilderness League before November 1st!
Overview
The Chugach National Forest is incredibly important to southcentral Alaska– culturally, economically, and recreationally. If managed properly, we can rest assured that future generations will be able to find the same opportunities in the Chugach National Forest… and that’s why we need your help!
The 5.4 million acre Chugach National Forest includes the 1.9 million acre Nellie Juan-College Fjord ‘Wilderness Study Area,’ (WSA) created when the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act passed in 1980. Since ANILCA passed, both management plans for the Chugach have offered Wilderness recommendations to Congress, asking that they designate a portion of the WSA as a Wilderness area. A formal Wilderness designation would permanently protect this Roadless, wild forest which also includes the highest concentration of tidewater glaciers in North America. This is a spectacular coastal landscape!
The Forest Service listened to comments collected two years ago, and developed a strong Wilderness alternative that would recommend Congress designate 1.88 million acres of the Nellie Juan-College Fjord Wilderness Study Area for Wilderness protections.
How you can help:
· Support Alternative D, and its strong Wilderness Recommendation of 97% of the WSA.
· Support management and monitoring that keeps the Nellie Juan-College Fjord WSA in wilderness quality condition. The draft plan would manage this area based on its existing characteristics; in the limited areas where evidence of human use or impacts exist in the WSA, the Forest Service should work to restore the Wilderness quality experience wherever possible.
Ways to Have Your Voice Heard:
· Attend one of the nine public meetings, taking place across Southcentral Alaska from September 12 to October 11. Visit the Forest Service website below for details.
· Visit act.alaskawild.org/sign/chugach2018/ to sign the Alaska comment letter.
· Submit your comment directly to the Forest Service, or get more information by visiting www.fs.usda.gov/goto/chugach/plancomments.
Possible Action Text:
“I support Alternative D for the Chugach National Forest Management Plan revision, which would designate 97% of the Nellie Juan-College Fjord Wilderness Study Area (WSA) as Wilderness. To protect this area until Congress acts, I ask that the management plan be strengthened to protect and monitor the wilderness characteristics of the WSA, so that this wild place can be handed down intact to future generations!”
