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Tongass National Forest, Alaska
Tongass National Forest, Alaska
A Rain Forest in Alaska??? Yep, you read it right. On the coast of Alaska, in an area that encompasses the cities of Yakutat, Ketchikan, and Juneau, and the beautiful Glacier Bay, is the Tongass National Forest. It is one of the rarest forests on earth, and is what is known as a Coastal Temperate Rain Forest. It is home to an abundance of wildlife, from Grizzly Bears to Whales, to Wolves. The mountains, which are part of the highest coastal mountain range in the world, trap the moisture rolling in from the Pacific, and collect up to 200 inches of rain a year. Yes, I think we can officially call it a Rain Forest! The trees in this region reach ages of 200 to 700 years old, with some growing as old as 1,000 years. A very long, long, long time ago, this forest stretched all the way from the California Redwoods up to the Gulf of Alaska. The Tongass National Forest is what remains of this ancient stretch of forest.
The objective of FBZ Fast Flight's is to show you some of the beautiful areas on this big blue marble we call home, that are not only worth seeing in real life, but worth a look in our virtual world of MSFS as well! If we can see just how unique these areas are, by traveling there within MSFS, then perhaps we can also see, and understand just why they are so unique, and worth protecting in the "real world"! Ugh, those two words! LOL!
The objective of FBZ Fast Flight's is to show you some of the beautiful areas on this big blue marble we call home, that are not only worth seeing in real life, but worth a look in our virtual world of MSFS as well! If we can see just how unique these areas are, by traveling there within MSFS, then perhaps we can also see, and understand just why they are so unique, and worth protecting in the "real world"! Ugh, those two words! LOL!
Roughly a million acres of this old-growth forest has been lost to clear cut logging and road construction over the last 50 years. Experts estimate that over two-thirds of the most pristine trees have been logged out of the region. Since the 1950's, the lumber endeavor has been a big time money loser, due to the extreme inaccessibility of much of the regions forests. Over 30 million dollars annually in Government aid, in other words tax subsidies. Without massive tax subsidies, (which comes from the good old taxpayers like you and me), most logging operations would have never taken place. Since 1980 Americans have forked over nearly one billion dollars to "help" the continuation of logging in the Tongass. By January 2001, more than 600 public meetings were held and over two million people demanded protection of our last intact wild lands within our national forests. The Roadless Area Conservation Rule was enacted. The "Roadless Rule" protected more than 58 million acres of our nation’s most pristine land from road building and commercial development. Unfortunately, the current administration began dismantling the rule, despite a campaign
promise to the contrary. On December 23, 2003, it was announced that the Tongass National Forest was "temporarily exempt" from the rule, stripping protection for over half the forest. Six months later, a proposal was unveiled to replace the Roadless Rule with a state petition process that would force governors to petition the federal government for reinstatement. Even if a governor chooses to do so, the administration can still stay "thanks, but no thanks" and deny the request. The proposal went into effect in May 2004.
Now folks, I just want to interrupt here for a moment and say that this is NOT a political article! Hence, no names mentioned, (but I think you can figure it out!). I just call em' as I see em'! (The comments made do not reflect those of the management…wait a minute, I AM the Management!). Oh, and I suppose you could call me a "tree-hugger" of sorts! I remember one camping trip and too much whiskey, a long time ago...but I digress! LOL! Back to the forest...
A federal judge in California reinstated nearly all of the previous coverage of the Roadless Rule. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Laporte of the U.S. District Court in San Francisco sided with the Governors of New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, the State Attorney of California, and 20 environmental groups, including Greenpeace, and reinstated the rule, thereby throwing out the proposed Roadless petition plan.
People must care, for over 2.5 million Americans commented in favor of the Roadless Rule.
Now folks, I just want to interrupt here for a moment and say that this is NOT a political article! Hence, no names mentioned, (but I think you can figure it out!). I just call em' as I see em'! (The comments made do not reflect those of the management…wait a minute, I AM the Management!). Oh, and I suppose you could call me a "tree-hugger" of sorts! I remember one camping trip and too much whiskey, a long time ago...but I digress! LOL! Back to the forest...
A federal judge in California reinstated nearly all of the previous coverage of the Roadless Rule. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Laporte of the U.S. District Court in San Francisco sided with the Governors of New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, the State Attorney of California, and 20 environmental groups, including Greenpeace, and reinstated the rule, thereby throwing out the proposed Roadless petition plan.
People must care, for over 2.5 million Americans commented in favor of the Roadless Rule.
The Tongass National Forest
Alaska, USA
Airfield shown - Alsek River A57
Yakutat, AK
Alaska, USA
Airfield shown - Alsek River A57
Yakutat, AK
Some of these areas within MSFS, even without any scenery enhancements, are absolutely stunning! The Tongass National Forest is one of them. Words can hardly describe the area. A broken and irregular coastline, with some various sized islands scattered all over the place, steep mountains, narrow valleys, very few regular roads, a smattering of airfields here and there, and between the mixture of salt air and the forest...ahhh...oh, wait a minute! My imagination is going full bore into overtime! Thought I was there for a moment! You simply can't get bored when flying in areas such as this! I think it's the ultimate for General Aviation sightseeing! Here are a few more screenshots of the area...
Well, I hope you enjoy this area as much as I do! I just can't get enough of this region, or any region like it for that matter, be it flying out of Lukla in the Mt. Everest area, high in the Andes, or, to quote an old song from a John Wayne Movie, "North to Alaska, go north the virtual rush is on"! OK, I made up the last part, but you know what I mean! Check it out for yourself, especially if you're going to fly in the, what really should be world famous, but isn't quite yet, “Farmboyzim's International Hop Race Competitions"! Keep an eye on the site for news regarding the March Hop Race. You may also note the Cessna 337 Skymaster in some of the shots. It's the one with the "push / pull" props, and the twin boom. This little gem from Mike Stone will be the aircraft that will be used in the March Hop race...and it so happens that the 337 is the topic of the current Farmboyzim Freeware Find!
So, if you fly using real world weather, dress warmly, it was reeeeeaaaalllllyyyyy cold there the other day! Don't forget to turn on your Pitot Heat and watch those carbs, and I'm not talking about pasta either! Winter though, is a superb time to fly in the area of the Tongass National Forest, for it really brings out the mountains and the cliffs extremely well. The pics you see are not default FS9 textures. I use FS Ground Environment Pro and Flight Environment, generously provided by the folks over at Flight1! Also, check FlightSim.com for addon freeware scenery for Alaska. Search for glbayv2a.zip and glbayv2b.zip from Holger Sandmann, Rainer Duda, Michael Eder, Scot Fraser, Manfred Herz, Jay Langham, Jon Patch, Larry Silsbee, and Jim Vile. These are scenery files for this region and are absolutely stunning in the detail! The screenshots in this review were taken before I installed these files, so I'll be posting some shots in the Gallery in the next few days. Great job folks!!!
There are so many scenery files for Alaska, that I'm going to leave it up to you which one's to choose. They all look good, and the price is right! FREE!!! But as I said earlier, addons or not, this is an absolutely fantastic place to spend hours exploring! Let's hope the real world Tongass National Forest lasts a good long time! Go hug a tree! Remember, they're the lungs of the planet! ;-)
So, if you fly using real world weather, dress warmly, it was reeeeeaaaalllllyyyyy cold there the other day! Don't forget to turn on your Pitot Heat and watch those carbs, and I'm not talking about pasta either! Winter though, is a superb time to fly in the area of the Tongass National Forest, for it really brings out the mountains and the cliffs extremely well. The pics you see are not default FS9 textures. I use FS Ground Environment Pro and Flight Environment, generously provided by the folks over at Flight1! Also, check FlightSim.com for addon freeware scenery for Alaska. Search for glbayv2a.zip and glbayv2b.zip from Holger Sandmann, Rainer Duda, Michael Eder, Scot Fraser, Manfred Herz, Jay Langham, Jon Patch, Larry Silsbee, and Jim Vile. These are scenery files for this region and are absolutely stunning in the detail! The screenshots in this review were taken before I installed these files, so I'll be posting some shots in the Gallery in the next few days. Great job folks!!!
There are so many scenery files for Alaska, that I'm going to leave it up to you which one's to choose. They all look good, and the price is right! FREE!!! But as I said earlier, addons or not, this is an absolutely fantastic place to spend hours exploring! Let's hope the real world Tongass National Forest lasts a good long time! Go hug a tree! Remember, they're the lungs of the planet! ;-)