President Barack Obama will, no doubt, be criticized by environmentalists for his latest decision to allow logging in the Tongass National Forest. His administration has approved the sale of timber in the nation's largest temperate rain forest, which is home to both endangered species and native Alaskan tribes. Alaskan Senators Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich both supported the administration's decision to allow the timber sale, saying that it would provide jobs to the area's underemployed loggers. Personally, I think logging in national forests is destructive.
According to The Wilderness Society:I think the rain forest should be left as it is. What are your thoughts on the President's decision?
American taxpayers have not only watched as the Tongass has been picked apart by road building and logging, they've paid for the privilege. The tab extends beyond $750 million over 20 years. In a single year alone, the Forest Service spent $36 million on the Tongass timber program and got back in revenues only $1 million. Subsidies for logging roads account for nearly half of timber program costs annually.
