ADEC, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. Primary responsibility for the prevention and abatement of water and land pollution.

ADF&G, Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Reviews projects for their effects on subsistence, wildlife, and fisheries. Conducts research.

ADOT, Alaska Department of Transportation. Plans, designs, constructs and maintains all state modes of transportation and transportation facilities.

APC, KPC, Alaska Pulp Corporation, Ketchikan Pulp Corporation. The two major pulp mills in Sitka and Ketchikan open from 1954 to the mid-1990s. Both mills had 50-year monopoly timber contracts on the Tongass, actively worked to break unions, and were convicted of severe air and water pollution. In 1981, both pulp mills were convicted of anti-trust violations between 1959 and 1975, including price-fixing, collusion bidding, and conspiring to force independent milling and logging companies out of business.

ASQ, Allowable Sale Quantity. The maximum amount of timber in board feet that the Forest Service is allowed to sell each decade. Set by the Forest Plan, the current annual ASQ is 267 million board feet (mmbf). Average Tongass cut level from 1998-2002 is 109 mmbf.

CWA, Clean Water Act, 1972. This federal law established the goal “to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation’s waters”, and the standards by which projects must achieve this goal.

CZMA, Coastal Zone Management Act. This federal law requires federal activities, including federal projects, federally funded activities such as timber sales and federal licenses to be consistent with state coastal protection programs.

DEIS, Draft Environmental Impact Statement. The public has an opportunity to comment on this version. The comments are taken into account or responded to in the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS). See EIS, SEIS.

EA, Environmental Assessment. The preliminary study done to determine if a more involved EIS is necessary.

EIS, Environmental Impact Statement. A study required under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) describing the proposed action, alternatives to the action, and the effects of each of the alternatives. Most Tongass timber sales requires an EIS.

EPA, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

ESA, Endangered Species Act. Administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries department. The intent of the act is to protect "the ecosystems upon which endangered and threatened species depend" and to protect listed species until they recover.

FEIS, Final Environmental Impact Statement. See EIS, SEIS.

FCRPA, Federal Cave Resources Protection Act. Provides for the protection and management of caves and karst on federal lands.

FPA, State Forest Practices Act. Establishes state standards for logging and associated activities.

LTF, Log Transfer Facility, more accurately known as a “log dump”. A marine waterbody into which logs are “dumped” and stored until being transferred to a barge or mill. The accumulation of bark and woody debris on the sea floor often creates a dead-zone and hazardous anchorages in the area.

LUD, Land Use Designation under TLMP. Describes what different areas of the Tongass will be used for, ranging from timber production to semi-remote recreation and wilderness.

MMBF, Million Board Feet. Unit of measuring timber. One board foot is a square piece of wood 1-foot by 1-foot by 1-inch thick.

NEPA, National Environmental Policy Act.  Requires federal agencies to integrate environmental values into their decision making processes by considering the environmental impacts of their proposed actions and reasonable alternatives to those actions.

NHPA, National Historic Preservation Act. Sets standards for managing historic sites, including Native cultural sites. In Alaska, any site over 50 years old may qualify as an historic site.

NMFS, National Marine Fisheries Service. Federal agency charged with maintaining healthy populations of marine fish and mammals.

OGR, Old Growth Reserve. Reserves in each drainage that are supposed to maintain healthy, well-distributed populations of wildlife across the Tongass set up by an interagency team of biologists.

ROD, Record of Decision. Announces an agency’s final decision on a proposed action. Often released on the same day as the FEIS.

SEIS, Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement. May be prepared for either draft or final EIS if the agency makes a substantial change in the proposed action that is relevant to environmental concerns. May also be prepared if there are significant new circumstances or information relevant to environmental concerns of the proposed project or its impacts. Incorporates significant developments and new studies on a project if there is a large time lapse between the end of the study and the beginning of a project. See EIS.

TLMP, Tongass Land Management Plan. Every national forest must create a forest plan every 10-15 years. The plan designates land use areas (see LUD) within the forest. Currently, SEACC and several other conservation groups won an appeal on a lawsuit over the 1997 TLMP. The groups contend that a Forest Service error doubled the estimated timber demand for the Tongass, resulting in the agency designating more land than necessary for logging. 

VCU, Value Comparison Unit. Way of creating distinct geographic areas, generally defined by easily recognizable watershed divides. Used to provide a common set of areas to do resource inventories and value measurements.