Tongass National Forest (Photo by U.S. Forest Service)
The U.S. Forest Service has initiated a revision of the Tongass National Forest plan.
At stake is whether the Forest Service will continue to shift its management strategy in support of a resilient climate, thriving Indigenous cultures, healthy fisheries, recreation, tourism and forest restoration — or whether it will backslide and try to bring back a bygone, unsustainable era focused on clearcutting the Tongass’ ancient trees at the expense of the communities and wildlife that depend on a healthy forest.
Members of the public may weigh in on how they think the forest should be managed and what should be included in the environmental review accompanying the plan. One public comment period is just closing, but more comment opportunities are likely in the coming months.
Every national forest in the United States is governed by a Land Management Plan, also called a Forest Plan, in accordance with the National Forest Management Act of 1976. The Tongass National Forest Plan was originally developed over 25 years ago, in 1997, and was most recently amended in 2016. Forest plans provide a guide for future forest management by creating standards for projects and activities and identifying areas where those activities are appropriate. They must be revised every 15 years.
This current Tongass plan revision process began in 2023 with initial listening sessions. We are now at the onset of developing an environmental analysis to look at different alternatives for managing the forest. The Forest Service is seeking public input to help guide the draft revised plan and the draft environmental impact statement, expected this fall.
Over the last several years, the Forest Service has made strides toward focusing its forest management approach on protecting the globally-important values of the Tongass National Forest while supporting communities in the region. It has done this by keeping the old-growth trees standing to store carbon as a bulwark against climate change, which supports Alaska Native ways of life and benefits healthy fish and wildlife populations that are important to locals as well as the millions of visitors that come to the region each year to enjoy this unique landscape.
Earthjustice, the nonprofit environmental law organization, wants to see the Forest Service continue this approach in its revised forest plan and protect the old-growth trees of the Tongass, facilitate co-stewardship opportunities for Alaska Native tribes,and support recreation along with the region’s fishing and tourism economies. The alternative – a return to large-scale clearcutting of old-growth trees – costs taxpayers millions of dollars in subsidies to support a relict industry and harms sustainable economies and other uses of the forest that are important to the region today.
The threats to the Tongass’s wild, intact ecosystems have grown under this administration. The agency said it will ensure the plan is consistent with two forest executive orders, E.O. 14153, “Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential” and E.O. 14225, “Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production” aimed at maximizing mineral extraction and logging in Alaska.
And then there’s the proposed repeal of the Roadless Rule, which safeguards our wildest national forest lands – including 9 million acres of the Tongass – against industrial logging and roadbuilding. Soon we should see the agency’s proposed rule and draft Environmental Impact Statement repealing roadless protections on the Tongass, the Chugach National Forest and many other unroaded forest lands in the Lower 48 – stripping protections potentially from a total of 45 million acres in national forests across 36 states and Puerto Rico.
All of this is happening at a time when commercial timber sales on the Tongass are beginning to ramp up again, including large, old-growth sales. The Forest Service is reviving a massive old-growth logging project that covers more than 40,000 acres on the southern part of Revilla Island east of Ketchikan in the Tongass. The Forest Service’s own analysis for the timber sale shows that the trees are worth more standing than they are cut down; none of the old-growth logging proposals considered in the South Revilla analysis are projected to appraise positively, meaning they would cost more to taxpayers than they would bring in.
More large, old-growth sales can be expected if the Roadless Rule is successfully repealed.
Instead of taking these steps backward and putting the old-growth forests and roadless areas of the Tongass on the chopping block, the Forest Service should continue the direction of recent years. Protecting the old-growth trees and roadless areas of the forest makes sense for the climate, the region’s economy, and the people who live here.
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Courtesy of Alaska Beacon
