Southeast Alaska Conservation Council

The Southeast Alaska Conservation Council (SEACC) is a non-profit organization that focuses on protecting the lands and waters of Southeast Alaska. They promote conservation and advocate for sustainable natural resource management. SEACC is located in the capital city of Alaska, Juneau. The environmental organization focuses on concerns in the Southeast region of Alaska, including the areas of the Panhandle, the Tongass National Forest, and the Inside Passage. SEACC's core purpose is "to protect Southeast Alaska's wild lands and clean water in order to sustain an intact ecosystem, abundant fish and wildlife populations, and a unique Southeast Alaskan way of life." They aim to interconnect the values of land, wildlife, cultures, and communities in order to sustain the environment for future generations. SEACC brings local voices together and gives community members a platform to express their concerns and advocate for a change. Large-scale clearcutting projects by the United States Forest Service were of great concern to environmental activists in the 1960s and 1970s. Specifically, the long-term permits the Forest Service had given two pulp mills allowed them to clear-cut ancient old-growth trees and turned them into pulp. In 1970, a group of Southeast Alaskans from communities across the entire region formed a group to oppose the unsustainable logging in the Tongass National Forest. They started as the Tongass National Forest preservation group. They mostly fought the large-scale old-growth logging but later changed their name to the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council. In 1977 SEACC became a federally recognized 501(c) organization. In 1975 the Forest Service released its 1975 Tongass plan, which proposed millions of acres to become wilderness areas. These areas were steep, rocky fjords or shifting glaciers that had not or never would be threatened by logging. Conservationists had been given 6 weeks to respond. SEACC came up with 45 areas that needed protection from logging.