The U.S. Forest Service released a revised management plan for the Tongass National Forest, leaving only 3.4 million acres of the 17-million acre unit open to development and some logging.
The revised plan would keep the potential maximum annual harvest the same at 267 million board feet, although the agency concedes the harvest is unlikely to exceed 100 million board feet annually for the next several years.
With the volume of timber under contract at an all-time low, last year only 20 million board feet was logged. The installed manufacturing capacity in the region is about 370 million board feet and the normal operating capacity for the currently-operating mills is about 200 million board feet annually.
The new plan removes several areas from the timber base that had been identified as wildlife corridors. The plan adds 90,000 acres to old-growth reserves and protects an additional 47,000 acres considered most vulnerable to development.
While the plan leaves 2.4 million acres in backcountry areas open to logging, only about 663,000 acres would actually be scheduled for harvesting over the next 100 years, and half of that acreage is second-growth timber cut decades ago.
Overall, 10 million acres of the Tongass is forested and 5.5 million acres is considered commercial timberland. Since 1907, only a little over 400,000 acres have been logged. Under the new plan, only 6.5 percent of commercial-grade old-growth acreage will be harvested between now and 2108.
The Tongass plan was originally adopted in 1980 and has been amended many times since then. With each revision, the timber base available to a fledgling forest products industry has diminished. Prior to 1990, 450 million board feet of timber was typically harvested from the forest on an annual basis.
In comments submitted to the Forest Service last spring, RDC and the Alaska Forest Association said that the Forest Service, through its management plan revision for the Tongass, could help build a more diverse and vibrant economy in Southeast Alaska by allocating a sustainable and sufficient longterm supply of economic timber. Such action would restore a fully integrated forest products industry in the region, the groups noted.
But in order for a fully integrated industry to take root, the agency would need to strike a true balance among multiple uses in a forest that is mandated to be managed under the multiple use principle, as opposed to the more restrictive uses of a national park.
Did the Forest Service strike a fair balance in its latest plan revision? Initial feedback from industry indicates the agency fell short.
“Although the Alaska Forest Association has not yet seen the final EIS for this plan, given all the efforts the agency has made to maintain the conservation strategy that was developed for the 1997 plan and the lack of recognition of the devastating effects that plan has had on the timber industry; it is hard to imagine how this amended plan can provide adequate economic timber for an integrated timber manufacturing industry,” said George Woodbury, President of the association.
The plan takes effect 30 days after it is published in the Federal Register, which is expected by mid-February. Groups have 90 days to legally challenge the plan.
