A Forest's Fate

Written by: Mason Noble

Photo Credit: Mark Brennan

The Tlingit are a tribe that live along the coast of Southeastern Alaska. They are the center of this blog and also the victims of an environmental and cultural boondoggle. Before the present events which are afflicting the Tlingit are brought up it is first important to understand how their culture affects their views on the environment. The Tlingit believed that there are spirits all around them called Yeiks and they believed that these spirits could be within any object around them. This led the Tlingit to revere all of the nature around them (Richardson n.d). The Tlingit believed that if they did not abide by paying respect to all nature that there would be consequences. They believed that the consequences would be the loss of food (Richardson n.d).

Tongass National park is the setting for this dilemma that has affected the Tlingit people. This park is a massive park home to a large quantity of plant and animal life. In modern times however, it has had many eyes upon it for the vast benefit that it would provide to the logging industry as Alaska has many mature forests. In 2001 a saving grace was granted to Tongass National park dubbed the Roadless Rule. The rule stated that roads were not allowed to be built in these areas nor is logging allowed to be conducted (USDA n.d).

Fast forward now to October of 2019 the Trump Administration which is the party opposing the Tlingits in this situation; proposed that the Tongass National park be exempted from this rule so that logging operations could commence (Kwong 2019). The proposal was made because it is believed that there is much economic potential from the forest industry to return to the surrounding area (Kwong 2019). It is no surprise that when this proposal was unveiled many people from tribes and conservationists were up in arms. This proposal plays a massive effect on the Tlingit people. As previously mentioned, the environment is heavily tethered to the religious and cultural beliefs of the Tlingit people. The destruction of this forest would physically be devastating to them. Many tribe members rely on this land for food but also culturally and spiritually because there are bad omens that coincide with not respecting nature. While in many situations it is no surprise to see Native American tribes fending for themselves when it comes to these issues the Tlingit have gathered many allies in other tribes that neighbor them and also conservationists who do not belong to any tribe. A mayor from a town near the Tongass named Anthony Christianson also stands against this proposal (Kwong 2019).

Just as there are cultural effects of exempting the Roadless Rule there are also environmental consequences. 80% of all salmon in Southeastern Alaska are harvested from the water ways and many of the Tlingit tribe members rely on these fish for their everyday food needs (Lakhani 2019). Industry such as logging can alter waterways or pollute enough to kill the fish and their eggs that reside in it. Their reliance on catching their own food is something that the Tlingit have had to do for hundreds of years. For this abruptly to end due to the fact that pollution destroyed their fishing grounds would be absolutely devastating to the culture of the Tlingit people and to their identity.

As the events of the exemption of the Road Rule progressed the tribes including the Tlingit were invited to talks about the status of the Tongass. The state and federal government had enough resources to navigate immense amounts of paperwork while the tribes struggled to keep ahead as they were lacking financial resources and had their motions to extend talks declined. (Lakhani 2019). With the native tribes unable to make headway the future for the Tongass forests looked extremely bleak. Consciousness was high amongst citizens nationally regarding this ordeal. A pew poll found that nearly 75% of the Americans polled said that they did not support opening Tongass to the forest industry (Lakhani 2019).

Fortunately, this year in March 2020, the Tlingit were able to receive a ruling on this incident which they were able to be happy with. The judge who ruled on the matter, Judge Gleason, in summary said that this plan to open up the Tongass for logging violated the Alaska National Interest Land Conservation Act (Rosane 2020). Essentially this project pursued by the Trump administration did not specify how the native people such as the Tlingit who rely on this area for their food and other resources would be affected (Rosane 2020). This statement by the judge was not a ruling by any means and has only thrown the plan by the Trump administration into limbo. As of writing this both sides are rearming and moving forward to perhaps find a way to remedy this situation (Rosane 2020). For the time being the Tlingit who call the area in and around Tongass home are able to breathe a sigh of relief. Their physical environment is going to be preserved thus they are able to continue their subsistence off the land and they are no longer in as spiritual and cultural crisis since the environment which houses their spirits is not going to be destroyed.

Sources:

Kwong, Emily. “For Many, Issue Of Logging In America's Largest National Forest Cuts Deep.” NPR. NPR, October 23, 2019. https://www.npr.org/2019/10/08/768251735/for-many-issue-of-logging-in-americas-largest-national-forest-cuts-deep.

Lakhani, Nina. “'We Depend on the Tongass': Alaskans Fight to Save US's Largest National Forest.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, November 12, 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/nov/12/alaska-tongass-national-forest-environmental-protections-climate-crisis.

Richardson, Geneviève. “Religion and Traditions.” The Tlingit People. Accessed April 22, 2020. https://thetlingitpeople.weebly.com/religion-and-traditions.html.

Roadless - Home. Accessed April 22, 2020. https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/roadless/home/?cid=fseprd672388.

Rosane, Olivia. “Judge Rules Against Trump's Attempt to Log in America's Largest National Forest.” EcoWatch. EcoWatch, April 22, 2020. https://www.ecowatch.com/national-forest-trump-logging-tongass-2645476974.html?rebelltitem=9#rebelltitem9.