No New Logging Roads in Tongass National Forest

WASHINGTON, DC, June 18, 2004 (ENS) - In a rare victory for environmentalists, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a ban Wednesday night on the use of federal funds for new logging roads in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest.

The amendment to an Interior Department spending bill passed by a vote of 222 to 205, with 48 Republicans joining 173 Democrats and one Independent to approve the provision.

“The issue here really is not whether we favor exploitation of these forests for logging or not - we can have that debate some other time,” said Congressman Robert Andrews, a New Jersey Democrat. “The issue here is whether we favor throwing good money after bad, whether we favor building more roads when the roads we already have need repair.”

Rainbow in the Tongass National Forest (Photo courtesy Alaska Coalition)

The 17 million acre forest consists of old growth spruce, cedar and hemlock trees and provides critical habitat for wolves, grizzly bears, wild salmon, bald eagles and other wildlife that have disappeared from other parts of the country.

But much of the Tongass National Forest is not forest. Two-thirds is rock, ice, wet lands and scrub timber.

Over the past half century, the Tongass has lost a million acres of old growth forest to clearcut logging and the construction of more than 4,650 access roads.

According to the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, these roads and timber sales have been subsidized by $30 million taxpayer dollars each year. In 2002 alone, the Forest Service spent $36 million on the Tongass logging program and received only $1 million in revenue, says the Alaska Coalition, composed of taxpayer and budget watchdog groups, sportsmen and conservationists.

Today, after taxpayers have spent $750 million subsidizing timber sales and logging roads in the Tongass over the past 20 years, the Forest Service faces an estimated $900 million road maintenance backlog there.

Congressman Steve Chabot represents Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo courtesy Office of the Congressman)

But Alaska Republican Don Young called the amendment “ill conceived, ill thought and very rude.”

Only four percent of the Tongass remains available to logging, Young said, and the amendment will cause further job losses to the logging industry that has shrunk from 15,000 jobs to less than 200 in the past two decades.

Congressman Don Young represents the entire state of Alaska. (Photo courtesy Office of the Congressman)

Criticism that the provision will cause job losses in the Alaska timber industry is unfounded, Chabot said.

“This amendment does not stop timber companies from continuing to log off the roads already built at taxpayer expense,” Chabot said. “The Forest Service has a supply of approximately 10 years worth of timber remaining off current roads if logging levels remain the same.”

REP America, the national grassroots organization of Republicans for environmental protection, called the amendment "a victory for environmental and fiscal responsibility."

“The House made the right environmental and economic choice in passing the amendment," said REP America Policy Director Jim DiPeso, who called the Tongass, "a one of a kind natural splendor, a sportsmen’s paradise of old-growth forests, clean rivers, abundant salmon, and a rich diversity of wildlife."

Protecting the Tongass makes economic sense in two ways, DiPeso said. "One, the Tongass’ natural assets support hunting, fishing, seafood production, and tourism activities that inject a steady stream of dollars into the local economy. Two, at a time of tight federal budgets, it is wrong to burden the taxpayers with subsidizing expanded timber production in a high-cost region that is far away from global wood products markets," he said.

“This is a major step toward saving our last great rainforest and saving taxpayer money as well,” said Tim Bristol, executive director of the Alaska Coalition. “Members of Congress from both parties took a hard look at the colossal amount of tax dollars wasted on logging in the Tongass and realized it doesn’t make sense.”

“The Tongass is the crown jewel of the National Forest system,” said Laurie Cooper, campaign manager of the Alaska Rainforest Campaign. “This is a victory for America’s rainforest and America’s taxpayers.”

Giant Sitka spruce like the one still grow in the Tongass National Forest. (Photo courtesy Alaska Coalition)

For over two decades, the welfare kings in the timber industry have made out like bandits in the Tongass National Forest," she said. "Building new roads is akin to throwing money down a rat hole."

Despite support for the Tongass amendment, New Mexico Democrat Tom Udall failed in an attempt to curb the Bush administration’s revisions to how the Forest Service manages the national forests.

Udall’s amendment, which would have prohibited the use of Forest Service funds to finalize or implement proposed revisions to the national forest management plans made under the 1976 National Forest Management Act, failed by a partisan vote of 195 to 230.

Udall said the Bush proposals “constitute a radical departure from the United States' history of sustainable forestry and from the current forest management policy first adopted and implemented by Congress and the Reagan administration over 20 years ago.”

Critics contend the administration’s plan will eliminate or seriously weaken vital safeguards for all U.S. national forests and grasslands, and will cause increased logging, drilling and mining that will destroy habitat for many wild creatures.

The revisions, proposed in late 2002, are currently under review by the White House Office of Management and Budget and could be finalized in the next few weeks.

Proponents say the revisions are needed to expedite the development of forest management plans.

“The Bush administration regulations are designed to reduce the time and cost of planning while maintaining sustainability, public participation, and the use of the best available scientific information,” said California Republican Richard Pombo.

Both amendments were part of debate over the 2005 spending bill for the Interior Department and other land and cultural programs.

The $19.5 billion appropriations bill passed the House late Thursday by a vote of 334 to 86 – the Senate has not finished work on its version of the spending plan.