January 25, 2008 - Bush Opens Roadless Tongass National Forest to Logging

Today, the Bush administration put a "for sale" sign on trees in pristine roadless areas of the Tongass rainforest in Alaska - America's largest national forest.

This move by Bush officials to reverse roadless area protections parallels two others made recently in national forests located in Idaho and Colorado.

Conservationists from across the country are indignant that roads will be punched through some of the nation's last, best roadless areas to allow private corporations to log America's public lands.

"The few remaining roadless areas of our national forests are some of the only safe harbors for America's wildlife," said Mary Beth Beetham at Defenders of Wildlife. "As global warming threatens to dramatically change the landscape we must have the foresight to preserve these last remaining pristine forests for future generations. It's folly for the Bush administration, in its last few months, to work to destroy these areas."

In December 2003, Bush officials "temporarily" exempted Alaska's Tongass rainforest from the Clinton era Roadless Rule, designed to protect 58 million acres of roadless wild forests in 39 states.

The Bush administration's new management plan for the Tongass National Forest will raise no revenue for the U.S. government, as the U.S. taxpayers will have to pay to build the roads the timber companies need to access the forest.

"With so much of our forest heritage already lost, every roadless acre counts. The spectacular roadless areas in Alaska deserve as much protection as those in every other state," said Larry Edwards with Greenpeace in Sitka, Alaska.

"The Roadless Rule and the courts have sheltered many of the last, best places in our national forests, even during an administration hostile to forest protection. Now, with one foot out the door, Bush officials are looking for whatever way they can to give away the family silver," said Franz Matzner at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Tongass logging fell dramatically in the 1990s, and for years now has existed at levels that do not require slicing roads and clearcuts into virgin old-growth forests, as the Forest Service itself has acknowledged.

"The new plan suffers from the same central problem as the old plan. It leaves 2.4 million acres of wild, roadless backcountry areas open to clear cutting and new logging roads," said Earthjustice attorney Tom Waldo. "The Tongass is worth a whole lot more to the American people as a standing forest than it is as a sea of stumps and logs."

The land management plan released today was ordered more than two years ago by a federal court which concluded that the old plan justifying opening Tongass wildlands for development was invalid due to several factors, including a gross overestimation of demand for Tongass logs.

Congress also has expressed concern with Tongass wilderness logging. The House of Representative has voted three times to stop taxpayer dollars from funding new logging roads there.

In September 2006, the federal District Court of Northern California ordered the Bush administration to reinstate the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule to protect almost 50 million acres of National Forests and grasslands across the lower 48 states and Puerto Rico from road construction, logging, and other harmful development.
Roadless area of the Tongass National Forest in southeast Alaska. (Photo credit unknown)

Judge Elizabeth Laporte ruled that the Bush administration violated both the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act by when it repealed the Roadless Rule and put into place another rule without any substantial analysis or need.

But the long term status of the roadless areas in the Tongass National Forest in Alaska was not settled by Judge Laporte. In 2003, the Bush administration exempted the Tongass from the roadless rule by creating a separate amendment that was based on the validity of the Tongass Land Management Plan.

"The Forest Service is losing money hand over fist on roads that Americans don't even want," said Christy Goldfuss of Environment America.

"Today," said Caitlin Hills with American Lands Alliance, "the federal government, in defiance of the facts and the strongly expressed sentiments of the American people to protect all roadless areas, has answered 'fire up the chainsaws.'"

"The Tongass is the crown jewel of our nation's roadless wildlands," said Trish Rolfe at Alaska Sierra Club. "Wild salmon, bears, eagles, and wolves thrive there among moss-draped ancient trees, along crystalline fjords and untamed rivers. It has nine million acres of roadless areas that lack permanent protection. The Bush administration has just put some of the best of them on the chopping block."

"All over the Tongass there are roadless wildlands that local people and visitors hold dear, jeopardized by this new plan," said Gregory Vickrey with Tongass Conservation Society.

"These are special places critical to the region's incredible fish, deer and other wildlife, world-famous recreational opportunities, cherished subsistence practices, and the businesses and jobs that depend on the region's natural treasures," said Vickrey. "These are the very things that make Southeast Alaskans most want to live here."

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2008. All rights reserved. top^

June 27, 2007 - House Votes In Strong Favor to End Tongass Road Subsidy

Thanks once again to strong bipartisan efforts in the House of Representatives and the dedicated work of countless folks and businesses in Southeast Alaska as well as throughout the lower 48, a vote to end taxpayer subsidies of logging roads in the Tongass National Forest passed on June 26, 2007. The amendment to the Interior Appropriations bill, sponsored by Republican Representative Steve Chabot of Ohio and Democrat Robert Andrews of New Jersey, won by a count of 283 to 145 and is supported by a broad coalition of local businesses, citizens, and conservation groups.

“This is a clear and major step towards conserving this incredible rainforest and preserving the benefits it provides to the quality of life for us that live here as well as a step towards the multiple use mandate the Forest Service is required by law to subscribe to,” says Gregory Vickrey of the Tongass Conservation Society. “Businesses that depend on the Tongass related to tourism, commercial and sport fishing, and sport hunting won today. Customary and traditional users won today. Taxpayers won today. All of us who enjoy this great ecosystem won today.”

The bill will next go to the Senate, and one can reason that if passed, the Forest Service will be better equipped to fund programs related to tourism planning, cabin and trail building and maintenance, and fish and habitat restoration – all of which are woefully under-funded historically, even though the latest statistics for the State demonstrate tremendous growth and opportunity in these areas as follows:

Average monthly employment numbers – 2004
Scenic and sightseeing industry – 586 people
Seafood processing – 1450 people
Active Fishermen (not including crewmembers) – 1964

By contrast, only 300 people were employed in logging and forestry in Southeast Alaska.

“Local support of this bill played a vital role in it getting passed, and those of us that live here are the ultimate beneficiaries. As it moves forward to the Senate, we look forward to seeing even more bipartisan support for this bill that further addresses our quality of life”, says Vickrey. top^

April 10, 2007 - New Poll Results Show Alaskans Oppose the Gravina Highway

Governor Palin, others encouraged to cancel contract

A new poll released this week shows strong statewide opposition to the Gravina Access Highway, a project which will cost $25.7 million for 3.2 miles of road according to the Alaska Department of Transportation and which leads to a bridge that has no assured funding.

The poll, conducted by Hays Research of Anchorage, found that 71% of Alaskans are opposed to construction of the Gravina Access Highway under current conditions. In Ketchikan, the opposition was even stronger at 75%.

The poll asked the following question:

“Although there is no dedicated source of funding for the Gravina Bridge (in Ketchikan), the State is currently moving ahead with the Gravina Access Highway - a 3.2 mile road that will connect the bridge to the airport. The contract for this road is 25.7 million dollars. Do you support spending approximately 8 million dollars per mile to build the Gravina Access Highway now (before funding is secured for the bridge project)?”

Gregory Vickrey of the Tongass Conservation Society in Ketchikan stated, “From this poll, it is clear the majority of Alaskans and folks in Ketchikan are opposed to spending money for this sort of road when there are no dedicated bridge funds. Without a bridge this is a road to nowhere, and at $8 million per mile, the cost is too high.”

The contract, signed by the Murkowski Administration before leaving office, is currently funded by an earmark similar to funds set aside originally for the Gravina Bridge, known domestically and internationally as the “Bridge to Nowhere”. Under intense scrutiny in the media and in Congress, the Gravina Bridge earmark was removed and the money was made available to the state for broader transportation uses.

Lois Epstein of the Alaska Transportation Priorities Project said, “Governor Palin has made it a priority to curtail the unwise financial decisions of the previous administration, as demonstrated by her cancellation of several Juneau Road contracts. The Governor can further clean house and reprioritize by canceling the contract for the Murkowski-era Gravina Highway and returning the money to federal taxpayers. It’s clear that a large majority of the state wants her to do this.”

Vickrey concludes, “It is high time Alaska DOT and the Governor reconsider options for Gravina, and citizen opposition to the current contract indicates that rethinking the project is a good place to start.” top^

April 5, 2007 - Tongass Settlement Agreement Reached

On April 3, the Tongass Conservation Society and other conservation groups reached a settlement agreement with the Forest Service and the timber industry. The conservation groups worked with the Forest Service and mill operators to hammer out a way to safeguard important community use areas while keeping the mills supplied with timber until the agency issues a new forest plan. The Forest Service withdrew multiple timber sales approved under the illegal 1997 Tongass forest plan that targeted important community use areas, such as the Emerald Bay sale on the Cleveland Peninsula, pending completion of the current forest plan revision.

“This decision is good for our business and good for Ketchikan,” says Bonnie Oaksmith of the Clover Bay Lodge on Prince of Wales Island. “Our lodge has been a substantial part of Ketchikan’s economy for 23 years. It is imperative the Forest Service plan addresses the needs of all users of the Tongass. Our business and others who need standing trees must be part of the future of the forest.”

Undeveloped lands like the Cleveland Peninsula, Moose Creek near Wrangell, and Little Seal Bay near Tenakee Springs support sport hunting, commercial and sport fishing, customary and traditional hunting, fishing and gathering, and guiding and tourism businesses. The streams and rivers in these areas also serve as key spawning habitat for wild salmon. Building more roads to clearcut Tongass old-growth in these wild watersheds harms these other values.

“The trips I take to Emerald Bay and Vixen Inlet provide a large portion of my annual income,” says Mark Galla, owner and hunting and sightseeing guide for Alaska Peak and Seas. “For my business, places that haven’t been logged are important. I’m glad the Forest Service is considering a forest plan that takes into account the value of places like Emerald Bay for businesses like mine.”

“Seal Bay, Long Bay and Goose Flats have been our stomping grounds for the three decades that my husband, Jed, and I have lived in Tenakee Inlet,” says Joan McBeen from Tenakee Springs. “From commercial fishing to berry-picking, we have come to understand how important a healthy forest is to our way of life. That’s why it’s important to me that the Forest Service keeps places like these safe from logging.” top^