January 31, 2006 - State of Alaska Signs Two MOUs with Forest Service

Now that the State of Alaska signed two MOUs with the Forest Service at the 'suggestion' of the timber industry, TCS responds in kind. Thank you to the Ketchikan Daily News for snippets highlighted in blue. Share your perspective here.

Governer Murkowski's aim is to grow "an integrated industry" to the point at which it will use "every bit of every tree" harvested with, eventually, 360 million board feet of timber available every year. This is interesting given the Governors efforts to agree to and enhance round log exports where absolutely no value is added to the timber locally and jobs are not a priority. This inconsistency in approach frustrates locals. We hear one thing from the governor and see something else entirely on the ground.

One of the agreements signed this past Saturday is to "promote, and provide a framework for, the development of economically and technically viable" Tongass National Forest timber. What is economically viable Tongass National Forest timber? Is it based on calculations of antiquated design set to add receipts that never reach the US Treasury, the model the Forest Service uses now for projecting sales like Emerald Bay and in its failed TLMP? I suspect the Forest Service, and now the State, under this MOU, will continue to have no qualms about deceiving the American taxpayer. Under such circumstances, the public should question the integrity of such an MOU. The other MOU is for the state and Forest Service to work together in amending the 1997 Tongass Land Management Plan as ordered by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in August. TCS has no issue with the principle of such an MOU. TCS, does, however, take exception to the fact that while the governors office manages to meet and communicate with AFA and other industry representatives, it does not take the initiative to meet and communicate with Native groups, conservation groups, and private citizens who utilize the Tongass for recreation and subsistence. Is it not the governors responsibility to cultivate a mechanism where all of us have equal voice? The governor was elected by the citizenry. Corporations are not citizens. It would behoove his office to include the citizenry in state business, yet at this time his office neither returns phone calls or emails on the subject of TLMP.

One of the first things Murkowski said he will pursue is three 10-year timber sales, in the name of the state, to give a reliable supply of timber to operators who then can profitably use "every bit of every tree" that's harvested. If the governor is so intent on expanding the industry, he would do well to generate more public support by discussing at length the types of market that are actually available for Tongass timber. Where will it go? Who will pay the higher prices associated with Tongass timber? What infrastructure is in place to keep jobs local and to add value to the timber?

The governor and industry need to get specific if they expect buy-in. Statements that plywood is needed in the Gulf and there is market demand are not enough. Who, specifically, will buy value-added timber at a higher cost? Market trends the last several years tell a different story, so if the climate for Tongass timber has changed, it is time for the governor and industry to substantiate that claim.

The first MOU, according to the Forest Service's Cole, will involve the state in early stages of the timber-sale process, "rather than at the end like we usually do." He said the agency's decision-making process, the public's involvement and the government's legal obligations wouldn't change, but the Forest Service could consider the state's resource concerns early in the process. The hope is for an efficient planning process leading to an "effective product" at the end. The Forest Service has a methodology where the publics involvement is discounted to the point of disenfranchisement. They do not care about wasting tax dollars, they do not care about users of highly-valued areas they intend to high-grade, and they have no problems moving the boundaries of old-growth reserves to suit their needs. If Mark Rey and Forrest Cole are truly interested in public involvement I encourage them to give TCS a call, to give subsistence users a call, to give the folks from Meyers Chuck a call. top^