探花精选 Thanks Senators Cantwell and Murray for Sponsoring Roadless Rule Conservation Legislation
Bill would protect vital bird habitat in Alaska鈥檚 Tongass National Forest
WASHINGTON 鈥 Yesterday, Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, both of Washington State, in Congress to permanently protect 58.5 million acres of roadless areas on national forests from development. The 2001 鈥溾 is intended to provide lasting protection for certain federal forest lands from logging, road-building, mining, and drilling for oil and gas and instead preserve them for recreation, conservation, and wildlife habitat. The 探花精选 applauds the new bill, the Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2018.
鈥淏y writing roadless rule protections for important forests around the country into statute, Senator Cantwell and Murray鈥檚 bill would ensure protections for irreplaceable bird habitat, including some of the last remaining centuries old, big trees in Alaska鈥檚 Tongass National Forest. These large-tree old-growth forests are home to endemic birds like the Queen Charlotte Goshawk and the Prince of Wales Spruce Grouse鈥 said Sarah Greenberger, Senior Vice President for Conservation Policy at 探花精选.
鈥淭he Goshawk and Spruce Grouse are just two of the birds that depend on precisely the old growth trees in the Tongass 鈥 trees which may soon be at risk due to an imminent agreement between the U.S. Forest Service and the state of Alaska. Other species include the Marbled Murrelet, which nests high up in the old growth canopy.鈥
Greenberger concluded, 鈥淭his legislation is both urgent and important for birds and for the unbroken forests in the Tongass and beyond, and 探花精选 thanks Senators Cantwell and Murray for sponsoring it.鈥
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Contact: Anne Singer, asinger@audubon.org, 202-271-4679.