By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
U.S. Forest Service District Ranger Perry Edwards talked to the Chamber of Commerce Wednesday about the agency’s plans and activities in the Tongass, and about the Alaska-specific Roadless Rule that is now under consideration.
Before touching on the roadless issue, Edwards discussed Sitka Ranger District projects such as landslide repair in the Starrigavan valley, stream restoration, the landslide warning program now in development, and the huge Redoubt sockeye salmon run this summer.
Only near the end of the meeting did the Roadless Rule enter the discussion, in conjunction with the state-financed road to Katlian Bay currently under construction. This road has received an exemption under the nationwide Roadless Rule.
Edwards avoided giving his personal opinion regarding the Katlian Bay road or the Roadless Rule. However, he did say in reference to the Katlian Road that “my intention is to help the state build a road that will be not causing resource damage, and require as little maintenance as possible.”
The current Roadless Rule is an amendment to the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. It protects about half of the Tongass from road development, though exemptions are possible. In June 2018, the Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Forest Service, began looking into options for developing a special Roadless Rule for Alaska.
Edwards emphasized the uncertainty surrounding the future of this rule, which is currently out for public comment. He noted the nuanced and difficult nature of his position, saying that in the Forest Service’s decision-making process, it often ends up that “nobody’s thrilled, (but) everyone can live with it.”
Perry Edwards (Sentinel Photo)
When pressed regarding the possible end of Alaska’s inclusion in the national Roadless Rule, Edwards told the audience “we won’t do anything illegal, but if we’re being mandated from above to do other things that fit within that (forest) plan, we’re insubordinate if we don’t follow the law.”
He held that the Forest Service intends to maintain the Tongass for multiple use and sustained yield management.
The Sentinel also spoke with Katie Riley, policy engagement director at the Sitka Conservation Society, which favors continued inclusion of Alaska in the nationwide Roadless Rule that applies to national forests.
Riley said that the altered Roadless Rule would lead to “a lot more clearcutting, I think we see decreased climate resiliency, I think we see decreased access to subsistence resources.”
The logging industry supports the Alaska rule now under consideration, but Riley questioned the idea that logging would bring prosperity. She said “the timber industry has not brought this promised economic contribution that they said they would. Otherwise, Prince of Wales would be the richest island out there.”
Riley worried that taking Alaska out of the national plan would mean an increase in destructive resource extraction, to the detriment of Southeast Alaskans. She said Sitkans interested in the topic should contact the offices of Alaska’s U.S. senators, Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, and Gov. Dunleavy.
Back at the Chamber meeting, District Ranger Edwards said that the future of the Roadless Rule as it affects Alaska remains “up in the air.”
