May 17, 2002
Friday - 12:30 pm

Petersburg, Alaska - The USDA Forest Service's Alaska Regional Office this morning made known its wilderness recommendation for the Tongass National Forest - a forest with 40 percent or 6,635,000 acres receiving special designation from Congress, including wilderness and national monuments areas.

It was announced that Tongass National Forest Supervisor Tom Puchlerz will recommend the "no action" alternative in the Tongass draft supplemental environmental impact statement, which does not recommend to Congress additional acres as wilderness designation outside the more than 5.7 million currently designated by Congress.

--- Click on Grapic For Larger Image Silver Represents the Tongass National Forest Area Graphic provided by USFS ---

"This alternative reaffirms with the 1997 forest plan revision, which was worked out with extensive public and congressional comment over nearly a decade," said Puchlerz. "We recognize that many of our roadless areas have excellent wildland values while at the same time firmly believe that many of them are vital to maintain a predictable, stable land base for timber harvest and other development activities. This is critically important to the 73,000 people and 32 communities in Southeast as well as the nation."

The Forest Service completed an intensive reevaluation of the current condition of the acres in natural land use. Eight different alternatives were developed and analyzed, ranging from no areas recommended to Congress for wilderness designation to 9.7 million acres recommended. In the current plan, about 330,000 acres of the 9.7 million acres are scheduled for timber harvesting over the next 100 years.

The public comment period will last for 90 days and will include numerous public hearings throughout southeast Alaska; comments are due August 17, 2002. Bschor will make the final decision on the supplemental environmental impact statement in the fall.

In March 2001, the U.S. District Court, Alaska District, ordered the Forest Service to prepare an SEIS for evaluating and considering roadless areas within the Tongass National Forest for recommendations as potential wilderness.

The USDA Forest Service's Alaska Regional Office also announced today the first wilderness recommendation by an Administration in more than a decade for Alaska's Chugach National Forest.

The Chugach National Forest, in its upcoming forest plan revision record of decision, will include a recommendation of more than 1.4 million acres for wilderness designation, which would make up 25 percent of the forest. The Chugach, the second largest national forest at 5.5 million acres, currently has no existing wilderness designation.

According to the news release, for more than a century, the Chugach has provided outstanding fish and wildlife habitat and more recently, world-class recreation and tourism opportunities. The revised forest plan will continue to emphasize protection and improvement of fish and wildlife habitat while enhancing quality recreation and tourism opportunities.

"From the unprecedented, open public participation process during the five-year revision, I learned the public has an overwhelming desire to keep the forest as it is today - wild in character," said Alaska Regional Forester Denny Bschor. "This wild character refers to the undeveloped nature of the forest, which is currently about 99 percent unroaded. The revised forest plan will sustain the ecosystems and human uses of the Chugach."

Key decisions in the Chugach plan will include:

• A recommendation to Congress to designate 1.4 million acres in Prince William Sound as wilderness - about 25 percent of the forest.
• Continued conservation of fish and wildlife on the Copper River Delta, a Western Hemispheric Shorebird Reserve, as directed by Congress in the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980. The revised forest plan includes additional standards to protect fish, such as the worldrenowned Copper River red salmon, and wildlife, such as dusky Canada geese, trumpeter swans and millions of migrating shorebirds.
• An allocation of about 82 percent of the forest on the Kenai Peninsula for winter motorized activities.
• Guidance for restoring healthy forests in areas with extensive spruce bark beetle-killed trees, resulting in reduced fire hazard near forest communities surrounded by beetle-killed timber.
• Full protection of subsistence uses on the forest, including traditional access.

National Forest Wilderness Areas are designated by Congress as part of the National Wilderness Preservation System. More than 34.7 million acres of National Forest System land is currently designated as wilderness.

Related Information:

Tongass National Forest: For more information on the draft supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS), including background, maps and hearing schedule...

Tongass National Forest - EIS Questions & Answers

Tongass Perspective Figures

Tongass Perspective Trivia

Tongass Perspective Graphs & Charts

Chugach National Forest: For more information on the forest plan revision record of decision, including background, maps, and a printing schedule for the record of decision click on the button labeled "Forest Plan" or click on this link...

 

 

Source of News Release & Graphic:

USDA Forest Service's Alaska Regional Office

 

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