ANCHORAGE (January 7, 2008) - The U.S. Forest Service is expected to release this week the final version of its Tongass Land Management Plan adjustment, a document The Wilderness Society anticipates will be based on economic conjecture and unfairly biased in favor of logging. A report published by The Wilderness Society, Déjà Vu on the Tongass: How Overestimating Timber Demand Prevents Responsible Stewardship, describes how Forest Service projections of demand for timber from the Tongass rely on unsupported assumptions that anticipate a rosier economic outlook than current trends suggest. The report's title references the fact that overestimating demand for Tongass timber has been a practice of the Forest Service for more than a decade.
"Our report explains how the Forest Service, despite a court order to correct the problem, once again overestimated the demand for timber" explained Pete Morton, primary author of organization's report. "Timber is being over-valued at the expense of other things, like healthy salmon streams, that are really important for the economy and quality of life in Southeast Alaska."
The Forest Service has been criticized in the past for failing to properly balance timber activities with other community and forest uses and values, including subsistence, commercial fishing, tourism and recreation, clean water, and wilderness qualities. Spencer Phillips, another author of the Wilderness Society report noted, "The economic realities of the region make focusing Tongass management activities so heavily on timber fiscally irresponsible. Commercial fishing, nature-based tourism and non-commodity values represent a much larger contribution to the region's economy, and we think management of the Tongass should better reflect these conditions."
The Tongass National Forest is America's largest national forest, the largest remaining intact temperate rainforest in the world, and the greatest expanse of intact old-growth forest in the United States. Fish and wildlife still thrive here, but continued road-building and logging could forever change that, undermining the ecological value of this one-of-a-kind forest. As scrutiny over federal spending grows, The Wilderness Society's report brings new focus to ongoing questions about taxpayer subsidized logging on the forest's most productive lands - places that are also the most valuable for fish and wildlife, tourism, recreation, and subsistence.
"The Wilderness Society believes the Forest Service would better serve Southeast Alaska communities, local economies, and the American public by managing the Tongass for its greatest economic values - things like old growth forest reserves, fish and wildlife habitat, and recreation" said Karen Hardigg, Forest Program Manager for The Wilderness Society's Alaska office. "Under the Forest Service's multiple use mandate there's certainly room for timber, too. But as the market for Tongass timber declines, and agency budgets also decline, it is even more important for the Forest Service to balance its timber activities with stewardship responsibilities for all the other forest resources."
The Wilderness Society, which has more than 310,000 members and supporters, is a nonprofit organization founded in 1935 and dedicated to the protection of America's wilderness and wildlife. The organization is part of the Tongass Futures Roundtable and is looking forward to working with this group, including the Forest Service, to find solutions that make the most sense economically, and culturally, for Southeast Alaska.
Download a copy of The Wilderness Society's report.
