Forest Service: No New Wilderness in the Tongass

WASHINGTON, DC, May 20, 2002 (ENS) - The U.S. Forest Service has decided not to set aside any of the nine million roadless acres of the Tongass National Forest in Alaska as protected wilderness. The decision late last week, the Bush administration's first major action on wilderness protection, drew heavy criticism from conservation groups.

The roadless mainland area of the Tongass rises on the eastern side of Lynn Canal in the northern part of the Tongass. (Photo courtesy USFS)

On May 17, Tongass National Forest supervisor Tom Puchlerz recommended that no additional acres in the Tongass be designated as protected wilderness.

The Forest Service's draft decision "reaffirms with the 1997 forest plan revision, which was worked out with extensive public and congressional comment over nearly a decade," said Puchlerz. "We recognize that many of our roadless areas have excellent wildland values while at the same time firmly believe that many of them are vital to maintain a predictable, stable land base for timber harvest and other development activities."

The agency said it had completed an "intensive" reevaluation of the current condition of the Tongass roadless acres. Eight different alternatives were developed and analyzed, ranging from no areas recommended to Congress for wilderness designation to 9.7 million acres recommended.

Looking north up Clarence Strait in the southern part of the Tongass National Forest, a roadless part of Gravina Island is visible in the foreground. The Cleveland Peninsula, a large roadless area on the mainland, forms the backdrop. (Photo courtesy USFS)

Conservation groups condemned the Forest Service decision.

"I think Americans will be shocked by this decision," said Earthjustice attorney Deirdre McDonnell. "Future generations will ask how, in 9.4 million acres of the world's last intact temperate rainforest, the Bush Administration didn't see one acre worth preserving as wilderness."

The administration's recommendation against protecting any more of the Tongass through wilderness designation follows earlier decisions to abandon protections for these same areas through the roadless rule established by the prior administration. Millions of Americans spoke out in favor of protecting the Tongass roadless areas along with other major roadless areas on America's national forests.

"It's hard to interpret this decision as anything other than an example of the current administration's extreme pro-industry bent. We had hoped they'd take a more balanced approach," said Earthjustice attorney Tom Waldo. "There are 10 billion board feet of timber within easy striking distance of the existing road system in the Tongass. Unfortunately, the real gravy for the logging companies is in the biggest remaining old growth trees in the roadless parts of the forest."

The Kootznoowoo Wilderness in Tongass National Forest. (Photo courtesy USFS)

More than 5.7 million acres within the Tongass - about a third of the forest's total acreage - are already designated as wilderness, where road building, clearcutting, mining and other development are completely banned.

During the last 45 years, the Alaska timber industry has clearcut more than 700 square miles of old growth forest and built more than 4,650 miles of logging roads in the Tongass. 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.

"With this decision, the Bush administration has given the green light to the timber industry to forge ahead with destructive logging projects in this pristine rainforest," said Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club. "Right now, the Forest Service is planning 33 large scale, industrial timber sales in roadless areas of the Tongass National Forest.

About 665,000 acres of the Tongass are available for timber harvest under the 1997 Tongass Land Management Plan Revision. About 330,000 acres of that is within the 9.7 million acres of roadless lands remaining in the forest.

Logs headed to market from southeast Alaska. (Photo courtesy Alaska Rainforest Campaign)

Roadless acres within the Tongass could win protection under a new bill expected to be introduced later this week. The National Forest Roadless Area Conservation Act would codify the Clinton administration's Roadless Area Conservation Rule by calling for the full protection of 58.5 million acres of wild National Forest land in 39 states.

If passed, the Roadless Area Conservation Act would prohibit new road construction or reconstruction in the unroaded portions of inventoried roadless areas on almost 60 million acres of National Forest System lands. The regulation would bar most logging, mining and other development requiring roads.

The Bush administration has suspended the Clinton era roadless regulation, and has failed to defend the rule against legal attacks by the timber industry. Pending the outcome of a court challenge to the rule, the Bush appointed chief of the U.S. Forest Service has issued a guideline allowing road building and timber sales in some roadless areas.

Tongass Bay in Tongass National Forest (Photo courtesy Southeast Alaska Conservation Council)

One roadless region won new protections on Friday when the Forest Service announced that an upcoming revision of the Chugach National Forest plan will include a recommendation of more than 1.4 million acres in Prince William Sound, about 25 percent of the forest, for wilderness designation.

"That's the largest wilderness recommendation offered by an administration since 1984, and that is a final recommendation," said Mark Rey, undersecretary of agriculture for natural resources and the environment. "These are areas that deserve wilderness protection because they are world class scenic and ecological treasures."

The Chugach, the second largest national forest at 5.5 million acres, currently has no designated wilderness. The new Chugach plan will also recommend new standards to protect fish and wildlife in the Copper River Delta, which shelters millions of migrating shorebirds.

"From the unprecedented, open public participation process during the five year revision, I learned the public has an overwhelming desire to keep the forest as it is today - wild in character," said Alaska regional forester Denny Bschor. "This wild character refers to the undeveloped nature of the forest, which is currently about 99 percent unroaded. The revised forest plan will sustain the ecosystems and human uses of the Chugach."

For more information on the Chugach forest plan revision, visit: http://www.fs.fed.us/r10/chugach/ and click on the button labeled "Forest Plan."

For more information on the Tongass National Forest draft supplemental environmental impact statement, including background, maps and a schedule of public hearings, visit: http://www.tongass-seis.net/