It’s Time for a Change in America’s Rainforest

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  March 21, 2006

Contact:

• Aurah Landau, Alaska Coalition (907) 723-0241

• Laurie Cooper, Alaska Rainforest Campaign, (202) 266-0441

Overhaul of Illegal Management Plan an Opportunity to Set Things Right in the Tongass National Forest in Alaska

Juneau, AK:  Today, the Forest Service announced the start of a court-ordered, major overhaul to the illegal Tongass National Forest plan which drives harmful logging and taxpayer losses to the tune of tens of millions of dollars annually. The Forest Service announcement comes within a day of the agency moving ahead with a new large timber sale linked to the illegal plan.

“This is a chance for the Forest Service to set things right in our country’s largest National Forest,” said Laurie Cooper, Manager of the Alaska Rainforest Campaign. “Working with all stakeholders, local and national, the Forest Service should craft a plan for the Tongass which stops the unsustainable practice of logging roadless areas at a high cost to southeast communities and U.S. taxpayers.”

Today’s announcement launches the first of several  opportunities for the public to weigh in with the Forest Service. However, it remains to be seen how willing the Forest Service is to leave behind the flawed forest plan. Despite the illegality of the current plan, the agency has continued to plan and finalize new logging roads and clearcuts across the Tongass. This week marked the end of a comment period on the massive Kuiu timber sale that has drawn opposition from Alaskan Tribal leaders and local hunters. The agency also recently finalized the controversial Emerald Bay timber sale which would harm wildlife and lose taxpayers at least $1.5 million. Over 100 Tongass timber sales slated for the next decade are linked to the illegal forest plan.

“The Forest Service can’t continue business as usual because it wastes taxpayer dollars, harms local communities and destroys outstanding recreation opportunities, healthy streams and fisheries, and wildlife in the Tongass,” said Dan Ritzman, Executive Director of the Alaska Coalition. “It’s time for the agency to end the timber-first era.”

The plan revision is especially critical to taxpayers right now because a new trend is emerging on the Tongass, with the Forest Service using taxpayer dollars to build roads before even trying to sell low value timber sales. A Forest Service whistleblower challenged the practice in two of those sales because roads were punched in before environmental assessments were completed.

The Forest Service’s revision of the Tongass Plan is a result of their admitted error of doubling the estimated amount of logging needed to supply demand for trees from the rainforest in southeast Alaska. Because of the mistake, U.S. taxpayers have been forced to bear the burden of the unnecessary and expensive new logging roads that lie at the heart of the Tongass timber program’s perennial taxpayer losses. The error has exacerbated 50 years of taxpayer loss on the Tongass.

The Tongass National Forest in Alaska is America’s Rainforest. It was established by Teddy Roosevelt in 1907 and is the largest intact temperate rainforest in the world. Its giant Sitka Spruce and other old growth trees are home to healthy populations of wolves, grizzly and black bears, salmon and Bald Eagles that have disappeared from many other parts of the country.

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