Tongass National Forest

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Tongass National Forest
Map of the Tongass National Forest - with National Monuments and Wilderness Areas

Opened on September 10, 1907 Tongass National Forest (Engl. Tongass National Forest , officially Tongass / Stikine National Forest ) is located in Southeast Alaska , USA , in the so-called Southeast Alaska .

With an area of ​​69,000 km², the forest is the largest national forest in the country and is administered by the US Forest Service . In the most exposed parts of the west coast on Baranof Island , incline rain generates enough rainfall to allow a temperate rainforest to grow. The landscape is characterized by glaciers and numerous fjords such as the Endicott or the Tracy Arm in the Boundary Ranges , the northernmost part of the Coast Mountains . The border with the Canadian province of British Columbia runs on the ridge . Until 1903 there was a dispute between Canada and the United States over the border area ( Alaska boundary dispute ). Two thirds of the area is covered with snow or ice or consists of rocks.

Around 75,000 people in 31 communities live in the Tongass National Forest, including indigenous peoples such as the Tlingit , Haida and Tsimshian . Namesake is the group of Tongass, who belong to the Tlingit. The Tongass once populated the area in and around Ketchikan . The largest city is Juneau , which is also the capital of Alaska.

The Admiralty Island National Monument and the Misty Fjords National Monument , two nature reserves of the National Monument type , and 19 Wilderness Areas , the strictest protection category in the United States, are stored in the national forest . Around 1/3 of the total area (over 23,000 km²) of the national forest are dedicated as wilderness protection areas.

According to a report by the Washington Post, US President Donald Trump ordered his Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue in August 2019 to remove a 20-year protection for the equivalent of 3.8 million hectares of the Tongass National Forest. Trump intends to specifically approve deforestation for energy and mining projects.

See also

Web links

Commons : Tongass National Forest  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ www.geonames.usgs.gov U.S. Geological Survey Geographical Names Information System: Tongass / Stikine National Forest. Accessed July 7, 2010
  2. ↑ Tongass National Forest: Trump should think about deforestation of Alaska's rainforest. In: Welt online. August 28, 2019. Retrieved August 28, 2019 .

Coordinates: 59 ° 35 ′ 0 ″  N , 138 ° 56 ′ 0 ″  W.