Areas in Tongass National Forest in Alaska, U.S.A. Put Off Limits

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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

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4/18/99

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY by EE

In a decidedly incremental, but not insubstantial move, the U.S.

government has put some 234,000 acres of ancient forests off limits

from timber harvesting in the Tongass National Forest in Alaska. This

massive wilderness is still threatened, and the movement to ban

commercial logging in all National Forests--which has been occurring

at a loss of money for the government--is strengthening. There aren't

many ancient forests being made these days. Eventually plantations,

recycling, alternative fibers, and certified forestry practiced in

regenerating secondary forests are going to have to meet our timber

and fiber needs. It is time to commit to holding onto remaining

ancient forests as biodiversity troves and templates for how to

restore natural forest systems.

g.b.

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ITEM #1

Title: Tongass Logging Cut Again

Administration Puts More Acres Off-Limits

Source: Associated Press

Date: April 14, 1999

Byline: By John Hughes

W A S H I N G T O N, April 14 - The Clinton administration, in a move

to increase protections for ancient trees in the nation's largest

forest, said today it is placing 234,000 acres off limits to logging

and other development.

The changes in the 17-million-acre Tongass National Forest in

Southeast Alaska are also aimed at helping protect species such as the

Sitka black-tailed deer and Alexander Archipelago wolf and should lead

to the development of fewer roads in pristine areas.

"What we're trying to do is strike a sustainable balance up there,

both for the natural resources that are nationally significant as well

as a sustainable source of timber for the forest products industry in

Southeast Alaska," said Jim Lyons, an undersecretary at the Department

of Agriculture.

Update to 1997 Tongass Plan

The changes will come in the form of an update to the 1997 management

plan for the Tongass. The plan will be in effect at least until 2007,

Lyons said, adding that the decision is intended to end the 33

separate appeals that have been filed against the 1997 plan.

The updated plan cuts the maximum allowable timber harvest in the

Tongass by 30 percent a year, and land open to logging will be reduced

by 15 percent to about 576,000 acres.

Also under the new plan, nearly half of the land that may be used for

logging can be harvested only once every 200 years, instead of once

every 100 years, as is currently allowed.

Lyons said the changes also will help sustain the forest industries,

as the allowable timber harvest remains well within the projected

demand for timber from the region in coming years.

But Is Demand Still Higher?

But a timber industry representative said the new maximum allowable

harvest is below real demand, and that the changes could put at least

one sawmill in the region out of business.

"It confirms our worst fears that this administration is determined to

drive the last nail in the coffin of Southeast Alaska's timber-based

economy," said Jack Phelps of Ketchikan, executive director of the

Alaska Forest Association, which represents 300 forest-products

companies.

Alaska's congressional delegation hammered the plan's changes.

Sen. Frank Murkowski called the changes a "scientific insult, a legal

affront and an economic crime" against Southeast Alaska residents.

Rep. Don Young went even further, calling the plan's changes a "sham

(that) abandons science, abandons common sense, abandons law, abandons

Alaskans."

Murkowski and Young chair their respective chamber's natural resources

committees.

Enviros Welcome Plan Changes

Bart Koehler, executive director of the Southeast Alaska Conservation

Council in Juneau, one of the organizations that filed a 150-page

appeal to the 1997 plan, said he was pleased with the plan's changes.

"We're relieved that we're finally getting a decision," he said.

"We're also feeling very good about some very significant additional

protections for some very important wildlands and watersheds in the

Tongass." But not all conservation groups were so happy with the

Tongass plan revisions.

"Pleased as we are to see overall logging plans reduced and additional

important wildlands protected, the (Forest Service) has not met its

full responsibilities under federal law to protect wildlife from too

much clearcutting," said Matt Zencey, manager for the Anchorage-based

Alaska Rainforest Campaign.

Still No More Wilderness

"We remain concerned that the plan failed to recommend any new

wilderness areas for protection," said Nicole Whittington-Evans, who

works in the Wilderness Society's Anchorage office.

The decision will increase protected forest land in the Tongass to

nearly 13.7 million acres, up from more than 13.4 million acres

currently.

Of the 234,000 additional acres being protected, 100,000 had been

previously deemed as suitable for logging. The other 134,000 was not

considered suitable for logging, and the decision assures they won't

be available for logging for the life of the management plan.

The plan changes would take effect Oct. 1.

ITEM #2

Title: Agriculture Department issues new blueprint for Alaska's

Tongass National Forest

Administration protects additional wildlands, but fails to

give Tongass sufficient protection

Source: Alaska Rainforest Campaign News Release

Status: Distribute freely with credit given to source

Date: April 15, 1999

Alaska Rainforest Campaign News Release 202 544-0475

202 544-5197 fax

"This new Tongass Land Management Plan fails to match the vision of

the Clinton Administration to protect all roadless wildlands in

America's national forests," said Matt Zencey, campaign manager. "The

Forest Service will still clearcut too much rainforest old-growth and

damage too many roadless wildlands that should be left alone. Pleased

as we are to see overall logging plans reduced and additional

important wildlands protected, the agency has not met its

responsibilities under federal law to protect wildlife from too much

clearcutting," Zencey said.

Bart Koehler, Executive Director of Southeast Alaska Conservation

Council said, "Undersecretary Jim Lyons made significant improvements

by scaling back logging levels and granting additional protections to

a good number of our most important fish, wildlife, subsistence and

recreation areas that Alaskans have fought hard to protect for more

than 12 years."

The Sierra Club was concerned the plan didn't go far enough. "Because

of the plan's failure to protect all roadless areas, U.S. taxpayers

will continue to subsidize widespread clearcutting and hundreds of

miles of new logging roads in the nation's largest remaining temperate

rainforest," said Sally Kabish of the Sierra Club's Alaska Rainforest

project. In 1997 taxpayers lost $33 million on the Tongass timber

program - the most expensive timber operation in our national forest

system.

The Forest Service reduced the allowable sale quantity (the amount

allowed to be cut from the forest each year) from 267 million board

feet to 187 million board feet, which is the amount that was offered

in 1998. The industry purchased only 27 million board feet last year,

so the Forest Service in April re-released those sales. While the

Forest Service protected nearly 100,000 acres of Tongass old growth,

roughly half of future Tongass logging will still have to come from

roadless areas.

"President Clinton and Vice President Gore say they want to leave an

environmental legacy by ensuring more wilderness areas and other lands

are protected," said Cindy Shogan of Alaska Wilderness League. "Any

legacy that doesn't protect the remaining wildlands of the Tongass --

the nation's last, best temperate rainforest, as wilderness -- falls

short of their promises."

"We remain concerned that the plan failed to recommend any new

wilderness areas for protection," said Nicole Whittington-Evans of The

Wilderness Society's Alaska office.

Among the "special areas" Southeast Alaska residents will no longer

have to worry about being hit with roads and clearcuts are: Cleveland

Peninsula near Ketchikan; East Kuiu Island, which was slated for a 48

million board foot timber sale; Poison Cove, Ushk Bay, and Deep Bay

near Sitka; Port Houghton; large portions of Upper Tenakee Inlet; and

areas adjacent to Keete and Mabel Bays near Hydaburg. Among other

issues, conservationists remained concerned about the plan's ability

to protect unique Tongass old-growth species such as the Alexander

Archipelago wolves and the Queen Charlotte Goshawks.

A decision on the Tongass Land Management Plan appeals process has

been expected for months. The revised plan announced April 14 was in

response to 33 appeals of the Tongass forest plan issued in 1997.

This plan is the Forest Service's 10 year blueprint for management in

the Tongass. It takes effect October 1, 1999. The land protections in

the plan are not permanent - they last only as long as the plan

remains in place - usually about 10-15 years.

The Alaska Rainforest Campaign is a coalition of national and Alaskan

conservation organizations dedicated to protecting Alaska's Tongass

and Chugach national forests, which hold the largest tracts of

temperate rainforest left in the world.

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