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WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
U.S.
Vice-President Al Gore Unveils Plan to Protect Alaskan Forest
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Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
9/10/96
OVERVIEW
& SOURCE by EE
Election
year give aways continue in the United States, as a plan is
announced
to protect 64,000 acres of private forests in Prince William
Sound,
Alaska. Now if the Clinton/Gore team
could move past their "It's
the
economy stupid" message and realize there is no economy without
ecology.
Glen
Barry
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TEXT STARTS HERE:
Al Gore
unveils pact to protect forest in Alaska
9/8/96
Copyright
1996 by Reuters
WASHINGTON
(Reuter) - Vice President Al Gore Friday announced a $33 million
agreement
to protect 64,000 acres of privately owned forest lands in
eastern
Prince William Sound, Alaska, from commercial timber harvest.
The
accord, funded by the Exxon Valdez settlement, will ban commercial
timber
harvests planned for some of the lands, protecting important habitat
for
salmon, cutthroat trout, marbled murrelet and a range of other species.
"This
agreement is vital to protecting forest habitat, strengthening the
economic
independence of Alaska natives, and increasing opportunities for
sport,
commercial, and subsistence fishing and businesses," Gore said in a
statement.
He
termed the agreement part of the ongoing effort "to right the wrongs of
an
environmental disaster" and said it was part of a comprehensive
ecosystem
restoration plan for Prince William Sound, site of the 1989 Exxon
Valdez
oil spill.
The
agreement was reached last week in Anchorage by Tatitlek Corp., an
Alaska
native village company, the state, and negotiators from the U.S.
Department
of Agriculture.
It
protects subsistence hunting and fishing while allowing the village to
retain
lands under private ownership.
Of the
total amount, $23 million will come from the $900 million Exxon
Valdez
settlement, with an additional $10 million in federal funds pledged
by the
Clinton administration from the $50 million criminal settlement in
the
case.
A
similar deal valued at $34 million was reached to protect western Prince
William
Sound with the Chenega Village corporation three months ago.
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