Rally supports roadless rule in Tongass National Forest

Tribal president notes dependence on salmon streams

Supporters of no exemptions to the 2001 National Roadless Rule in the Tongass National Forest Gathered at the Alaska State Capitol on June 24 in a grassroots effort to keep the largely roadless forest off limits to new logging roads and old-growth timber clear-cutting. Photo courtesy of the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council

Southeast Alaskans armed with brightly colored, hand-painted signs rallied at the Alaska State Capitol in Juneau on June 24 to call for keeping the 2001 National Roadless Rule intact on Tongass National Forest.

They made clear their stand with tree-shaped signs saying, “Respect the Tongass,” and fish shaped signs that read, “Fish don’t need more roads.”

Southeast Alaska is sending a clear message calling on Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to select the “no action” alternative and keep the National Roadless Rule in place on the Tongass, said Meredith Trainor, executive director of the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council.

“We as tribal leaders support keeping the national roadless rule, which helps protect resources in our area from any more logging roads and logging,” said Joel Jackson, president of the Organized Village of Kake. “We depend on our forests and salmon streams to sustain us. Our traditional hunting and fishing practices are critical because they put food on our tables.”

“The Tongass is relied on by local communities, Alaska Native people, recreational users and tourism and salmon fishing businesses,” said Eric Jorgensen, managing attorney of the Alaska regional office of the non-profit environmental law group Earthjustice. “Additionally, the Tongass has national significance as it is a buffer against global climate change. We at Earthjustice will continue to do everything in our power to ensure that these critical Tongass lands are protected for generations to come.”

The battle over the Roadless Rule in the Tongass stems from concerns on one side for more economic development in Southeast Alaska, and on the other side that more roads and logging in the vast national forest would adversely impact salmon streams, which are critical to the current commercial, sport and subsistence economy of Southeast Alaska, as well as its wildlife.

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In her commentary printed in the Ketchikan Daily News on March 19, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska said that the new rule being written by the U.S. Forest Service “represents our best chance for real improvements in local access that will benefit everyone.”

The roadless rule, implemented by the Clinton administration, “never should have been applied to Alaska,” she said. “The Tongass now has more than 9.7 million acres of inventoried roadless areas. Combined with wilderness designations, the federal government has placed some 93 percent of the forest off-limits to development.”

According to Murkowski” there is a terrible misconception that exempting Alaska from the roadless rule will result in rampant destruction of the Tongass, but nothing could be farther from the truth. It is entirely possible to bring conservation back into balance with other uses,” she said. “The state-specific rulemaking will help sustain the regional economy, cultures and ways of life.”

Meanwhile Liz Trotter, the lands, wildlife and oceans press secretary for Earthjustice, contends that the state-specific rule “would allow the Forest Service to disrupt the last largest continuing temperate rainforest in North America, all for a handout to industry.

The timber industry provided only 354 jobs in 2017, compared to over 10,000 jobs that support tourism and seafood here in Southeast Alaska,” she said. “On average, and if all road building and timber sale costs on the Tongass are taken in to account, the Tongass timer sale program cost taxpayers $26 million each year, while yielding just $1.69 million in return, for an average loss of more than $24 million each year for over the last 20 years, largely due to the exorbitant costs of building and maintaining new logging roads.”The state of Alaska petitioned the U.S. Department of Agriculture in January 2018 for a state-specific exemption to the Roadless Rule, and the U.S. Forest Service has said it plans to finalize an Alaska roadless rule by June 2020. The process involves a National Environmental Policy Act environmental review, the gathering of public feedback, and consultation with Alaska Native tribes and corporations, plus cooperation with the state. A summary of the Alaska Roadless Rulemaking public scoping comments is online at https://www.fs.usda.gov/nfs/11558/www/nepa/109834_FSPLT3_4616651.pdf.

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