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Sierra Club Legal Victory Protects Wild Forests U.S. Forest Service Agrees to Abandon Nine Timber Sales in Tongass National Forest Juneau, AK--In a groundbreaking victory for the Sierra Club and other conservation groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, and Earthjustice, the U.S. Forest Service agreed on Wednesday, April 4, to abandon plans to allow nine large timber sales in wild areas of Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, and not to offer any new timber sales in Tongass roadless areas until a forest plan amendment is completed. "This is a huge win for people who hunt and fish in the Tongass," said Sierra Club spokesperson Katherine Fuselier. "The court agreed that there was no need to log these wild, roadless areas. But we need to permanently protect the Tongass. It’s time to treat the crown jewel of our national forest system as a gift to future generations instead of a giveaway to special timber interests." "Millions of Americans have said, again and again, that they want to see the Tongass protected," said Mark Rorick, head of the Sierra Club’s Juneau group. "That’s why we fought so hard for this settlement. These are some of the best places left after 50 years of industrial-scale logging." The Tongass National Forest spans 17 million acres in Southeast Alaska and is the world’s largest temperate rainforest. The forest is home to old growth trees, wolves, bears, salmon, moose, and bald eagles. It is also home to the biggest timber subsidies in the nation, with American citizens paying roughly $45 million a year to subsidize logging companies in the area--mostly by building new, unneeded roads. Wednesday’s settlement stems from a 2005 decision in which the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found that the Forest Service grossly exaggerated demand for Tongass timber and failed to explore options for cutting trees outside of the forest’s pristine roadless areas. While the Forest Service agreed this week not to allow the nine large timber sales, the agency is working on a new management plan that, as proposed, would open these areas and more to future road building. The Forest Service is accepting public comment on its plan until April 30, 2007. "The draft Forest Service plan for the Tongass is still fatally flawed," said Sierra Club spokesperson Katherine Fuselier. "The Forest Service basically submitted a new plan that has the same faulty approach as the old one. It leaves too much land open for logging and not enough for community uses like hunting, fishing, tourism, and recreation." The Sierra Club is working to promote a strong and diverse economy that respects the wildlife, recreation opportunities and natural heritage that Alaskans and other citizens value--and to permanently end congressional handouts for logging in the Tongass National Forest, which have cost taxpayers more than $1 billion since 1982. For more information on the Tongass visit: http://www.sierraclub.org/forests/ ---------------------------------------------------------
Tongass National Forest Litigation Settlement Agreement Background Information Contact: Tom Waldo, Earthjustice (907) 586-2751 Background: Starting in December 2003, several conservation organizations and one Alaska Native tribal government filed a series of four separate lawsuits challenging the Tongass Land Management Plan based on a substantial error in determining how much land should be made available for logging. On August 5, 2005, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the plan, finding that the Forest Service mistakenly doubled the volume of timber needed to supply local sawmills and, as a result, failed to examine alternatives that would better protect roadless areas. The appeals court sent the case back to the U.S. District Court in Alaska to determine any interim logging that should be allowed during the time it takes for the Forest Service to correct its errors and adopt a new plan. The parties entered into lengthy negotiations regarding the issue of interim logging, culminating in today’s settlement agreement. Parties: All parties to the four lawsuits joined in the settlement agreement. They are: Plaintiffs: Organized Village of Kake, Natural Resources Defense Council, Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society, National Audubon Society, Center for Biological Diversity, Tongass Conservation Society, and Sitka Conservation Society. Defendants: U.S. Forest Service and various agency officials. Intervenors: State of Alaska and Alaska Forest Association. What the settlement does: 1. The Forest Service will not offer any new timber sales in Tongass roadless areas or on Kuiu Island (the ancestral home of members of the Organized Village of Kake) until the forest plan is completed. 2. The Forest Service will not sign any new decision documents authorizing future timber sales in roadless areas or on Kuiu Island until the forest plan is completed. 3. The Forest Service will withdraw the following timber sale decisions previously authorized in roadless areas and on Kuiu Island: Emerald Bay, Cholmondeley (except specified helicopter units), Finger Mountain, Northwest Baranof, Canal Hoya, Crane and Rowan Mountain, Woodpecker 2003, Madan, and portions of Chasina. 4. The logging companies may complete timber sale contracts already entered. None of these timber sales are on Kuiu Island or in roadless areas protected by the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Effect of the litigation and settlement: As a result of this litigation and settlement, the Tongass timber sale program has shifted from one focused on construction of expensive new roads and clearcuts in roadless areas to one located primarily on the existing road system. For the fiscal years 2004 to 2007, the Forest Service had planned to offer about 36 roadless area timber sales and to sign about 19 decision documents approving new multi-sale timber projects in roadless areas. Under the settlement, the only timber sales that will proceed in roadless areas before adoption of a new forest plan are nine specified sales that were exempt from the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, because they had been approved before 2001. By protecting roadless areas and shifting the timber sale program to the existing road system, the settlement agreement provides an opportunity for the Forest Service to adopt a new plan that recognizes the greatly reduced demand for logging in the Tongass, cuts taxpayer losses, and protects the remaining wild, natural areas of the forest. What’s next: The Forest Service has released a new draft forest plan for public review. Unfortunately, the agency's "proposed action" is an attempt to revert to the timber sale programs of the past. It would allow logging at a level about six times the current demand, located overwhelmingly in roadless areas valued for hunting, fishing, tourism, recreation, and wildlife. Comments on the plan are due April 30, 2007. The agency expects to adopt a final plan later this year. ### |
