Tongass Land Management Plan - Alaska Tongass National Forest

Home >> Tongass Land Management Plan

Tongass Land Management Plan

Public Comment Period Ends April 30

According to the Ninth Circuit Court, TLMP must be completely redone, and TCS is working to make sure it is done properly. Check out the latest updates below.

Contact TCS and visit the Forest Service TLMP page for more information.

Current Tongass Land Management Plan

The Tongass Land Management Plan (TLMP) revision process is in full swing as the the Forest Service completed a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in January 2007. From January 12, 2007, there is a 90 day public comment period during which folks can submit opinions, raise concerns, and speak out about the plan. TCS will hold meetings, as will the Forest Service, in various communities. Tell the Forest Service you deserve a balanced plan! Visit the Forest Service website to read the Tongass plan. We will continue to add information here as well, so check back, and drop us a line.

State of the Tongass Plan

Numerous events, positive and negative, have taken place in the last several months in an effort to shape TLMP into a good plan for the Tongass National Forest.

1. The State of Alaska, on behalf of the timber industry has signed two MOU's with the Forest Service. Check out our comprehensive response in our news section. View the general MOU here. View the TLMP MOU here.

2. An extensive Conservation Strategy Review took place in the spring. We blogged live from the gathering and you may find the info from those sessions here. There are rampant concerns that because the Forest Service is working on such an aggressive timeline, many facets of this review - including the scientific analysis stemming from it - are being overlooked.

3. The Tongass Futures Roundtable, a collaborative process with various stakeholders, was formed with the intent to shape the TLMP process as well as provide timber for the industry. The group is also supposed to work on other issues related to multiple-use, but that portion of the gathering has not been successful. Numerous entities are either under-represented or non-existant at the roundtable, and that has sparked concern throughout communities. There is very little Native representation, no local conservation presence, and important towns like Ketchikan are not represented by government participation. Only time will tell if the process will bear fruit. TCS expects the next roundtable to occur in late February. In the meantime there will be subcommittee meetings that may define possibilities for a TLMP alternative. If you have concerns, please contact TCS.

4. Southeast Conference has submitted plans for cutting more than 400 million board feet of timber a year, and the Forest Service is including it in their process. This, of course, is not sustainable - for the forest or other users inclusive of subsistence and commercial fishing.

Tongass National Forest

This page will continue to be a resource for the planning process. Check back soon for comprehensive updates.

Your Tongass, Your Viewpoints!

Have a Tongass story or viewpoint you would like to share with the world? Send it to us for publishing!

Maryland Ornithological Society - TLMP Comments (PDF) "Various habitats ranging from saltwater flats to ancient conifer forests, muskeg and alpine areas support over 300 species of birds. Studies have documented 160 nesting species."

Susan Walsh - TLMP and Caring for the Land (PDF) "Long before the word 'environmentalist' was even thought of, the care and need to nurture the land was ingrained."

Mike Sallee - The Roadless Rule, Gravina, and the Cleveland Peninsula (PDF) "There appears to be some kind of social milieu, a militant crisis mentality that has left developers with no deep attachment or respect for the land other than as a commodity to be sold off to the highest bidder."

Mike, brother Dave, and friend in front of then untouched Lewis Reef - Gravina Island

Mike McKimens - The Tongass Plan Revision "Small businesses depend on healthy, intact Tongass watersheds. The future of small business in Southeast depends on proper management of our forest."

Soren Wuerth - Testify! "...people, the good folk who work the land, are not to blame for its abuse, its exploitation. These are people who are part of our community."

Dave Sallee - Letter to Ted Stevens circa 1993 (PDF) Note: This letter written in 1993 is beautifully relevant today. Rest in peace, Dave. "...this letter is supposed to be about logging. Which is a subject I think I know something about because, you see, from the day I found my divorced dad's "cork shoes" in the back of the closet, with the mud still clinging to them from the last day he wore them many years before, I have been a logger."

Amy Kay Snider - Leader of the Pack (PDF) "In order to insure the vitality of these wolves proper habitat maintenance will be required to sustain healthy populations of the Sitka black-tailed deer, along with managing current road regulations to prevent over hunting and trapping, as well as developing proper land management plans in the Tongass."

Stephen Todd - Shifting Forest Service Priorities "I have grown weary of blame being cast on conservationists for a downsizing timber industry."

Jessie Ballowe - More on Gravina Island (PDF) "Illegal dealings, immoral decisions, and unchecked actions are leading to consequences that no one wants."

Stephanie Patton - Beauty, Our Forest, Gravina (PDF) "If money is the issue, which it clearly always is, think of how much money we’ll lose if we keep tearing up our land."

Soren Wuerth - Be Good to Gravina! (PDF) "After two hours and seven miles of climbing, we were in the heart of the “nowhere” sought by advocates of a bridge."

Jill Jacob - Losing our Soul, Speeding up Around a Blind Curve (PDF) “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" Mark 8:36

Larry Jackson - Regarding the Export of Round Logs From Any Lands Within the State of Alaska (PDF) "An integrated land management policy that stops or slows the export of round logs would help send a message to industry and the world that we want manufacturing in the state."

Soren Wuerth - Forest Service Plan: Clearcuts Help Stop Global Warming! (PDF) "The Forest Service notes these 'trends' in 'climate change' but, like a puppy irresistibly humping the leg of its master, the Forest Service allocates its horny impulse to the logging industry."

Gregory Vickrey - Protecting Gravina Island (PDF) "Those who are blinded by the prospects of overdevelopment throw the history and soul of Gravina Island to the side."

TLMP Conservation Strategy Review

In April of 2006 the Forest Service hosted the Conservation Strategy Review in Ketchikan, Alaska. This was intended to be the primary event used to conduct the review of "strategy" involving the Tongass National Forest and the latest revision of the Tongass Land Management Plan (TLMP).

Check out the highlights regarding this review for the Tongass below.

Day One ~ Day Two ~ Day Three ~ Day Four