The Tongass National Forest is the heart of the largest temperate rainforest on the planet.

Since industrial scale logging began in the 1950s, however, the Forest Service has placed a high priority on logging giant stands of old growth forest to serve the timber industry.  While the once-booming pulp mills have disappeared, the Forest Service continues to give a high preference to timber, often times at the expense of healthy fish and wildlife habitat, recreational opportunities, and/or the visitor industry.

U.S. taxpayers continue to subsidize logging heavilyon the Tongass National Forest .  According to our 2003 report “Taxpayer Losses and Missed Opportunities” the Forest Service spent nearly two-thirds of its Tongass budget on logging and roadbuilding in the Tongass in 2001.  Since 1980, Tongass timber management has cost U.S. taxpayers roughly one billion dollars, making it the biggest money loser in the entire national forest system.  In the past five years the Forest Service has spent roughly $40 million annually on logging and roadbuilding.  In return, the American public has received around one million dollars annually in timber sale receipts, plus a few fresh clearcuts.

In January of 2008 the Forest Service released a new Tongass Land Management Plan.  Forest Service took an unusual approach by deciding to implement its selected alternative in phases.  In doing so, the agency took a step toward recognizing the importance of areas we have been seeking to protect by opting not to log many of SEACC’s special places immediately.  Nonetheless, SEACC will continue to work toward long-term protections for places like Port Houghton, Cleveland Peninsula, and Tenakee Inlet.

Timber sales of note:

• Navy: (Listen to local KFSK radio story, entitled Mixed reviews for planned Forest Service timber sale on Etolin Island)
• Iyouktug:  A Final Environmental Impact Statement is expected on this Hoonah area timber sale this summer.  While the sale in and of itself is not particularly egregious, biologists question whether the area can handle more logging in light of the intensive logging that has already happened in the area.
• Kuiu:  Kuiu Island is an area ripe for restoration efforts.  Hunters from Kake have traditionally relied on the abundance of deer in this area for subsistence use, but biologists have noted a steep decline after 40 years of industrial-scale logging.  Last year the District Court of Alaska ruled that another sale on Kuiu, the Threemile Sale, violated subsistence provisions of ANILCA (the Alaskan National Interest Lands Conservation Act.)  Nonetheless the Forest Service is expected to roll out a Record of Decision for the Kuiu timber sale this spring.