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WORLDWIDE BIODIVERSITY/FOREST CAMPAIGN NEWS

ACTION ALERT-->Alaskan Rainforest Threatened by New Legislation

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

February 8, 1995

OVERVIEW & SOURCE

Alaska Senator Frank Murkowski may soon reintroduce in Congress a

new Alaska Native land claims bill that "would be an economic,

environmental, and cultural disaster for all the users and

communities on the Tongass National Forest". Murkowski is using

Native claims as a pretext to raid the most vital public lands

from the Tongass. The 17 million acre Tongass National Forest is

a national treasure. In this alert taken from econet's

rainfor.general conference, the South Alaska Conservation Council

asks for letters on behalf of the Tongass National Forest.

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/** rainfor.genera: 167.0 **/

** Topic: Alert: SE Alaska Rainforests **

** Written 10:17 AM Feb 7, 1995 by lhthwknw in

cdp:rainfor.genera **

Alert from South Alaska Conservation Council (SEACC)

SENATOR FRANK MURKOWSKI POISED TO ATTACK ALASKA'S RAINFOREST AND

RAID PUBLIC LANDS

At 17 million acres, the Tongass National Forest is three times

larger than any other U.S. National Forest. It encompasses an

area the size of West Virginia and 80% of the land in Southeast

Alaska. Stretching 500 miles along the southeastern coast of

Alaska, the Tongass embraces hundreds of islands, majestic

mountains, sparkling glaciers, and deep fjords. Nestled in this

rugged country, along the beach fringes and river valleys, are

magnificent stands of temperate rainforest. Huge Sitka spruce and

western hemlock tower over a lush understory.

The Tongass is a unique national treasure. It is the only

National Forest that is an oceanic archipelago, and scientists

have recognized its global significance.

Alaska Senator Frank Murkowski is poised to re-introduce in

Congress a new Alaska Native land claims bill that would be an

economic, environmental, and cultural disaster for all the users

and communities on the Tongass National Forest. The bill--S.

2539--would undermine 20 years of legislative compromise, from the

1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) to the 1990

Tongass Timber Reform Act. The bill would jeopardize long-term

community economic stability, sacrifice historical subsistence

uses, destroy some of the richest wildlife habitat areas and

commercial fishing watersheds, and ruin community recreation areas

dear to the hearts of Southeast Alaskans--including areas that

Congress permanently protected just four years ago in the Tongass

Timber Reform Act--all to create a short-term bonanza for the

Ketchikan Pulp Company and other private timber corporations.

Murkowski is using Native claims as a pretext to raid the most

vital public lands from the Tongass.

The Tongass Timber Reform Act passed the Senate by a vote of 99-0

and the House by 356-60. Senators Murkowski and Stevens both

voted for it. Permanent protection of key areas as legislated LUD

II roadless areas was widely supported by Southeast Alaskans,

including the Governor of Alaska; Sealaska Corporation (the

regional Native corporation); the Alaska Native Brotherhood; the

Southeast Conference (a regional business and civic coalition);

and many Southeast Alaska communities. Now, Murkowski's bill

would cut those areas, gutting the Act and the balanced solution

it represented.

Murkowski's bill is not aimed at bringing justice to Alaska

Natives. It is really a raid on the public lands, and a grave

injustice to all concerned.

If a fair examination of this issue shows that redress is needed,

it should be done in public, with a solution that involves all the

people of Southeast Alaska and respects all the users of the

forest. Valid Native claims should be addressed in a manner that

maintains the integrity of the Tongass National Forest and all it

stands for: multiple use and sustained yield; hunting and sport

fishing; commercial fishing, recreation, tourism and subsistence.

Murkowski's bill would:

Create five new Native village corporations in the towns of

Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, Haines, and Tenakee. These

communities did not meet the criteria established by Congress

for formation of village corporations under the 1971 Alaska

Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). Instead, residents enrolled

as at-large shareholders of Sealaska, the regional Native

corporation for Southeast Alaska.

Give the new corporations the right to select a total of around

645,000 acres from the Tongass National Forest. Currently, the

ten village, two urban, and one regional Native corporations in

Southeast have combined holdings of around 550,000 acres. The new

selections would more than double current private corporation

holdings.

Give each new corporation three to seven times the amount of land

allocated to each Southeast village corporation under ANCSA.

Because of the earlier, 1968 Tlingit and Haida land settlement,

ANCSA entitled Southeast Alaska village corporations to only one

township of land each. Murkowski's bill would give each new

corporation between three and seven townships, using a formula

that ANCSA applied only to villages outside Southeast. This

inequity could lead to a landslide of additional claims from

existing Southeast village corporations, as well as from villages

throughout Alaska that did not qualify under ANCSA in 1971. The

bill opens a Pandora's box of new land claims and re-opens the

fundamental decisions of ANCSA.

Limit new corporate land selections to areas of the Tongass

currently managed as off-limits to logging by the Forest Service--

including those "roadless" (Land Use Designation or "LUD" II)

areas permanently set aside by Congress for their habitat,

subsistence, fishing and hunting values only four years ago in the

Tongass Timber Reform Act. The new private timberlands would not

be subject to sustained yield requirements, and all timber would

be sold to the Ketchikan Pulp Company or another Alaska mill.

(This timber would be in addition to subsidized timber provided to

KPC under its monopolistic and unprecedented 50-year contract.)

The selection criteria have nothing to do with traditional use or

cultural ties. They have to do with logging.

Directly threaten the following areas:

Naha*; Deer Mountain and Clover Pass; Eagle River; Berners Bay;*

Idaho Inlet; Anan;* St. James Bay; Seal and Long Bays (Tenakee

Inlet); Lake Eva; Bay of Pillars; Rocky Pass; Sarkar Lakes;

Farragut Bay. The following areas are also at risk: Kadashan;*

Trap Bay;* Nutkwa;* Lisianski;* Point Adolphus;* Upper Hoonah

Sound;* Calder-Holbrook;* Mud Bay;* Noyes, Baker and Lulu

Islands;* Salmon Bay* and others.

*Areas permanently protected by Congress in the Tongass Timber

Reform Act. Southeast Alaska communities judged these to be among

the most important subsistence, recreational, wildlife and fish

habitat areas in Southeast Alaska.

Allow new Native corporations from one end of the Tongass to

select lands on the other end of the Tongass--including areas

traditionally belonging to another Native group. Areas that are

traditionally used for hunting and fishing by a local Native

community could be extensively clearcut by Native corporations

with no traditional ties to the selected land.

Guarantee road access to selected timberlands--even across

Wilderness areas--and exempt access roads from public review under

the National Environmental Policy Act.

If history is any guide, selected lands will be closed to public

hunting, fishing, tourism, and subsistence, and extensively

clearcut within 20 years. This will create another boom and bust

timber cycle while at the same time devastating those areas most

important to Southeast Alaskans--both Native and non-Native--for

wildlife, fish, recreation, and subsistence hunting and fishing.

WHAT YOU CAN DO: WRITE OR FAX

Please write now! Write your member of Congress or Senator: Tell

them you oppose Murkowski's raid on the public's--your--forest,

and that you support addressing questions surrounding the bill and

its consequences in a full public forum. Please send or fax a

copy of your letter to SEACC.

Please also write:

Senator Frank Murkowski

Chairman, Energy and Natural Resources Committee

U.S. Senate

Washington, D.C. 20510

fax 202/224-5301

For more information, contact:

Jeremy Anderson

Grassroots Coordinator

Southeast Alaska Conservation Council

419 Sixth Street

Juneau, AK 99801

tel. (907) 586-6942

fax (907) 463-3312

###RELAYED TEXT ENDS###

You are encouraged to utilize this information for personal

campaign use; including writing letters, organizing campaigns and

forwarding. All efforts are made to provide accurate, timely

pieces; though ultimate responsibility for verifying all

information rests with the reader. Check out our Gaia Forest

Conservation Archives at URL=

http://forests.lic.wisc.edu/forests/gaia.html

Networked by:

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Email (best way to contact)-> gbarry@forests.org

Phone->(608) 233-2194 || Fax->(608) 231-2312