Tongass

Southeast AK's salmon and trout contribute an estimated $1 billion to the regional economy and support 1 in 10 jobs, according to the U.S. Forest Service. The Tongass National Forest produces on average 28-percent of Alaska's annual commercial salmon catch from less than five-percent of the state's land base. Some 70-percent of wild salmon harvested from national forests originate in the Tongass.

Edwards spoke to a group of reporters and fishermen visiting the Sitkoh River restoration project on Chichagof Island, in Southeast Alaska's 17 million-acre Tongass National Forest. It was a joint effort by the Forest Service, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Trout Unlimited, and Sitka Conservation Society to fix what some describe as a Tongass "hammered gem" - a wounded but
high-value salmon-producing watershed in one of Alaska's most prolific fish nurseries.

Once the heart of dozens of logging towns, Tongass National Forest is now shifting its focus from timber to salmon, creating a ripple effect for local economies and ecosystems alike.

Jev Shelton has been fishing commercially for 51 years. For the last 40 of those, fishing has been his primary source of income

According to Alaska Fish and Game, the ex-vessel value of salmon caught commercially in Southeast Alaska in 2011 exceeded that of all other regions, including Bristol Bay ,for the first time since statehood. Across all gear groups, the commercial salmon harvest topped $200 million.

A new television show, “On the Rise,” which was shot last year on the Tongass National Forest, is currently airing this week on the Sportsman Channel.

A group of Alaska commercial fishermen, anglers, guides, naturalists and tour operators are in Washington, D.C., this week to advocate for more conservation and restoration of fish habitat in the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska.

The Tongass is America's salmon forest and one of the few places in the world where wild salmon and trout still thrive. Some 65 percent of Tongass salmon and trout habitat is not Congressionally protected at the watershed scale, and is currently open to development activities that could harm fish. It’s time for Congress to better protect the richest resource of the Tongass: Wild Salmon.

Called “America’s Salmon Forest” by conservationists who understand its critical importance to fish populations, the Tongass National Forest is currently open to multiple threats, including uncontrolled mining, damming and development.