The Tongass National Forest is North America’s Amazon, the largest temperate rainforest on Earth. Sitka spruce, western hemlock and western red cedar, some standing 200 feet tall, play ancient stewards to a teeming ecosystem including grizzly bear, moose, river otter, bald eagles and wild salmon. In addition, the old-growth trees absorb and store more carbon than any other national forest in the United States, making them one of the best solutions to our climate crisis.
My zine The Forest and The Woodcutter is a personal response to Donald Trump’s Administration lifting environmental protection for the Tongass National Forest. In October 2020 they announced more than three million hectares would be opened for logging and road building despite opposition from environmental groups and indigenous leaders.
The Alaska Wilderness League said Taking an axe to old-growth protections for the Tongass is among the most reckless and irresponsible of the Trump administration’s environmental rollbacks.
I decided to frame my response to this wanton destruction by using Jean de la Fontaine's fable La forêt et le bûcheron featuring Donald Trump as the woodcutter. The images were taken in Stonehill Wood, within a mile of my home.
Edition of ten.