Over Tribal, resident, widespread objections, U.S. Forest Service to finalize politically-driven Tongass plan

Photo by Colin Arisman

JUNEAU, AK— The U.S. Forest Service today announced that its politically-driven plan to open 9.3 million currently protected acres of the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska to industrial development, including clearcut logging of temperate rainforest old growth, will become official tomorrow, October 29, when the Record of Decision will be published in the Federal Register. 

“It’s clear that this decision is what the Forest Service essentially admitted it to be in its Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) — a politically mandated choice that ignores Southeast Alaskans, fishermen, Tribes, hunters, businesses, subsistence users and the vast majority of public comment in Alaska and across the nation,” said SalmonState executive director Tim Bristol. “This decision is an ill-fated attempt to create a past that collapsed on itself, and ignores the actual, articulated needs of Alaskans, as well as the innovative leadership we need to be able to adapt to the challenges climate change presents.”

96 percent of comments, overall, and 90+ percent of local, in-person subsistence testimony was in favor of maintaining protections for the Tongass. In addition, every single Tribe has resigned as a cooperating agency in protest over the way their valuable input has been ignored in this process. In a letter renouncing their status as cooperating agencies to the Forest Service Oct. 13, five Tribes wrote that “our participation in this process has not actually led to the incorporation of any of our concerns in the final decision. We refuse to endow legitimacy upon a process that has disregarded our input at every turn.”

In the FEIS, the Forest Service stated “Development of federal policy is often inherently political. In this case, USDA gave substantial weight to the State’s policy preferences.”

At 17 million acres, the Tongass, which comprises most of Southeast Alaska, is America’s largest national forest. It’s also the largest intact temperate rainforest in the world, stores 650 million tons of carbon and is vital to keep intact as the planet’s climate changes, is the birthplace of 25 percent of the West Coast’s salmon catch, is a place more than a million people come from around the world to see each year, on average, and on average generates more than $2 billion for Southeast Alaska’s economy through fisheries and tourism.

“Engaging in this process has been a huge waste of Alaskans’ time and energy, and the final product is sure to be thrown out in court,” Bristol said. “It’s time for a process that actually listens to the people the Forest Service, and Alaska’s politicians, claim to want to hear from.”