 One of the country’s most widely read commercial fishing magazines — National Fisherman – has published a guest editorial by Juneau seiner David Clark about his support for the Tongass 77 campaign. Clark’s piece, called Talking Tongass, is in the June issue of the magazine. Read it here. In his “Dock Talk” column, Clark talks about how he came to make commercial fishing in Southeast Alaska his livelihood more than a decade ago and why he wants to see the Tongass’ prime salmon watersheds managed with fish production as the top priority.
“My livelihood, like those of the 7,300 or so other people in Southeast whose jobs revolve around salmon are trout, is largely dependent on healthy habitat. It’s the rain forest of Southeast Alaska, with its 17,600 or so miles of salmon rivers, lakes and creeks that sustains my income and those of so many others. Fishermen commercially harvest nearly 50 million salmon every year in Southeast Alaska. The Tongass National Forest of Southeast Alaska is one of the few places left where wild salmon remain healthy and abundant. That’s why I support the Tongass 77, a grassroots campaign to get Congress to permanently protect 77 key salmon watersheds in Southeast Alaska that are open to development.” Dave flew back to Washington, DC, with a Trout Unlimited-sponsored delegation of other fishermen and tour operators to lobby Congress to support the campaign and introduce Tongass 77 legislation. We thank Dave for his support of the Tongass 77 and for sharing his words with National Fishermen readers. Congress needs to hear the voices of the commercial fishing fleet and all others who care about the future of wild salmon. Please add your name to the Tongass 77 sign-on letter here.  The mystique of an Alaska rainforest and its prolific salmon runs lured New Englander Tracy Sylvester to a job blowing up roads in the Tongass National Forest. As a U.S. Forest Service intern, Sylvester worked on a blasting crew that took out abandoned logging roads and old culverts blocking the passage of wild salmon. “I spent the summer setting off explosives and shoveling dirt. It was fun,” said Sylvester, 27, who has a bachelor’s degree in fisheries biology.
Most of the work took place on Baranof Island in Southeast Alaska’s bear- and salmon-rich Tongass rain forest, a 17-million-acre expanse of giant spruce, hemlock, and cedar trees nestled against northern British Columbia. Commercial, sport, and subsistence fishing, along with governmentPhoto by Ben Hamilton, Courtesy of Sitka Conservation Society and tourism jobs, fuel the regional economy. Timber once dominated both the economy and the headlines. But the industry is much smaller now, the controversy around logging less heated, and mill owners are preparing to retool from old to young-growth harvest and manufacture. Sylvester’s college intern work that summer in 2007 – decommissioning logging roads and restoring logged watersheds – is part of a transition sweeping the Tongass. Charged with overseeing the Tongass, the U.S. Forest Service is moving away from managing the country’s largest national forest for industrial logging to a future that’s focused more around niche timber sales, forest stewardship and restoration, and fisheries, particularly salmon. “It’s becoming a greater priority for a couple of reasons,” said Wayne Owen, a top-level Forest Service official based in Juneau. “I think the nature of the forest products industry is changing and that certainly contributes to it. I also think the voice of the people with respect to salmon is being heard more clearly locally, regionally, and nationally and that makes a difference especially when people work with the Forest Service, when you have that spirit of cooperative engagement.” Read more in the May issue of Pacific Fishing magazine. |
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AMERICA'S SALMON FORESTis a coalition of sport, commercial, and subsistence fishermen, business owners and operators as well as private citizens working together to conserve high-quality salmon and trout spawning and rearing habitat in the Tongass, America's largest national forest.
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