By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Sitka Conservation Society will continue to advocate for environmental policy and community sustainability, particularly in relation to the future of timber harvesting in the Tongass, SCS Executive Director Andrew Thoms told the Sitka Chamber Wednesday.
“The mission of the Sitka Conservation Society today is to protect the natural environment of the Tongass,” Thoms said, “and support the development of sustainable communities in Southeast Alaska.”
Founded in 1967 “in the heart of the pulp mill logging days,” the society chose as one of its first goals the designation of the West Chichigof-Yakobi Island area as wilderness. This was achieved by an act of Congress in 1980. Thoms added that the Sitka Chamber proposed the South Baranof area as wilderness, and this designation also won Congressional approval in 1980.
Andrew Thoms (Sentinel Photo)
In the present day, Thoms said, a critical mission of SCS was “how do you keep a viable timber industry, but look out into the future and try to manage the forest where the most sensitive areas that are the most contentious aren’t logged.” Thoms served on the Tongass Advisory Committee, a collaborative group of Southeast Alaska stakeholders that worked with the U.S. Forest Service on the 2016 revision of the Tongass Management Plan that to transition logging from old growth to new growth timber.
The details of the 2016 Tongass plan are available at https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/tongass/landmanagement/?cid=STELPRD3801708.
That multi-year effort has been overshadowed by the plan now being put forward by the Forest Service that would exempt the Tongass from the provisions of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, an open previously protected old growth to logging.
“It’s really unfortunate that this has come up, because there’s been a lot of really good things going on in the Tongass,” Thom said. “There’s been a lot of work done collaboratively between some conservation groups like SCS and the Nature Conservancy, and the state of Alaska Division of Forestry and timber operators.”
“The timber industry has its day,” he said, “There’s another level of timber industry that we have to figure out how to make it work.”
Thoms said that a sustainable timber industry in the Tongass would revolve around new growth trees. “We’re working with the Forest Service on their policies on how they put together timber sales,” he told the chamber.
The Conservation Society was involved in setting up the timber sale for the Tongass Tiny Home project as well, Thoms told the crowd. He noted that the home used second growth timber of almost every local species. The tiny home was built at Sitka High.
“We wanted logging that was done in a rational way,” he said.
Thoms said that SCS helped with the renovation of Forest Service recreational cabins at Allen Point and Fred’s Creek, again using local timber. He mentioned the contribution of Sitka High student Grace Harang to the project. “She was the photographer, she hauled lumber, she was the bear guard, she caught some food,” he said.
The Conservation Society joined members of the Sitka Volunteer Fire Department in building new decks and improving other features of the cabins over the summer, he said.
Going forward, Thoms said, a top priority of the Conservation Society is “how do we balance environmental conservation, social goods, and social need, so we have a healthy community without conflict.”
SCS is also hosting the annual Wild Foods Potluck this Sunday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Centennial Hall. All are welcome and attendance is free.
The Chamber meets again next Wednesday to hear a presentation from School District Superintendent Mary Wegner and Business Manager Cassee Olin.
