Anyone who understands the value of public lands to hunters, anglers and other outdoor recreationists, and the fundamental role public lands play in many of our lives has cause for concern. Today we're writing to highlight just one of the threats to our public lands. Introducing the State National Forest Management Act of 2017 (H.R. 232): This ill-conceived proposal would allow individual states to receive up to 2 million acres of federal land. In Alaska, this means that 2 million acres of the most productive and important areas of the Tongass would transfer to the State of Alaska for intense timber and mining development. With this change in ownership, fish and wildlife would take a backseat so the state could exploit the land free from important federal fish and wildlife protections or sell it off to private owners. The conservation measures and protections we have worked on together for fish and wildlife habitat—such as the requirement for 100-foot stream buffers, environmental review and public notice—would no longer apply, and future public access would not be guaranteed. The lands open for transfer under the proposal could come from congressionally-designated wild lands, Roadless Areas, or nearly any other area outside of Wilderness, National Monuments, or National Park System lands. As if this weren't egregious enough, under the bill there would be no opportunity for comprehensive environmental review, and the public would NOT be allowed to participate or have a say in the selection and transfer process. To address this and other such attacks, we are collecting signatures from anyone who values conservation of, and continued access to, our valuable public lands in the Tongass National Forest. We delivered the first batch of signatures to our Alaska Senators and Congressman in February, and will continue to do so throughout the spring and summer. If you'd like to review our list or add your name, you may do so here. If you think HR 232 sounds like a very, very bad idea please click here to add your name to our sign-on letter: Among the areas targeted for transfer are some of the most productive and important salmon and steelhead streams in Southeast Alaska—including the Situk River and large chunks of Prince of Wales Island. These areas would be handed over to the state to be logged or further sold off to private interests with no guarantee for future public access or important federal protections for fish and wildlife. (See map below) Please add your name to our Public Lands Sign-On Letter in support of conserving our public lands and the fish and wildlife resources they support. Efforts underway in Congress to transfer or privatize our federal public lands are an all-out attack on our fish and wildlife heritage and hit especially hard on our nation's largest and greatest national forest, the Tongass. Southeast Alaska's Tongass National Forest is one of the last remaining temperate rainforests in the world where ancient Sitka spruce and cedar forests are home to abundant runs of all five species of North American Pacific salmon, steelhead, cutthroat trout, Dolly Varden, and wildlife like grizzly and black bears, Sitka black-tailed deer, wolves, and bald eagles - just to name a few! If passed, this bill would carve off large swaths of the Tongass for special interests, block off public access and promote destructive and unsustainable logging that will cause untold harm to the region's important fish and wildlife resources. Fishing and tourism, which are Southeast Alaska's largest sources of private-sector employment and account for roughly 25% of regional employment, would be cast aside in favor of outdated logging practices that provide minimal employment while costing taxpayers many millions of dollars annually. Today, more than ever, is the time to speak up and make sure your elected officials hear your voice.
Right now we have an important opportunity to support the public lands of the Tongass and the economic stimulus they provide. If you agree with the following statement, please add your name and/or business name to this form today.
We, the undersigned business owners, guides, outfitters, hunters and anglers, support conserving and maintaining access to our public lands and the fish and wildlife resources they support. Public lands, and the Tongass National Forest in particular, drive the private-sector economy of Southeast Alaska. The Tongass’ abundant salmon runs, large deer and bear populations, and incredible scenery serve as the foundation for our commercial fishing, outfitter and guide, and tourism industries, which provide more than $2 billion in economic contribution and 25% of all jobs in the region annually. As individuals that depend on access to abundant natural resources, we believe the Tongass National Forest must continue to be managed by the U.S. Forest Service on a multiple-use basis. We stand together in opposition to any effort to transfer management or ownership of Federal public lands in Southeast Alaska to State or private entities. We likewise oppose any proposals that threaten to unreasonably restrict public access or would harm fish and game populations by eliminating essential federal conservation designations and measures, such as the Tongass 77. Thanks to Michael for submitting this letter to the editor of the Alaska Dispatch News!
Young's bill would jeopardize not only trees but Alaska businesses In a move ignoring both the desires of most Southeast Alaskans and economic realities in the region, Congressman Don Young recently introduced a bill called the "State National Forest Management Act" (H.R. 232), which would allow up to 2 million acres of federal lands in any state to be transferred to state ownership. Although this would outwardly appear to stimulate local economies, a little analysis shows that the measure would benefit only a small segment of the many businesses that rely on public lands for their operations. Not only are the majestic trees of Southeast Alaska a key driver of the booming tourism economy but they are also critical to the health of wild salmon runs that support commercial fishing, sportfishing and tourism businesses, which together account for nearly 25 percent of employment in the region. Not to mention the potential impact on personal use and subsistence. If passed, Rep. Young's measure would jeopardize all of this. Cutting down Tongass old growth and jeopardizing fish-based jobs and businesses in favor of the logging industry, which provides less than 1 percent of jobs here and has never produced economically viable timber without massive taxpayer subsidies, is simply bad policy and poor leadership. The benefits are greatly outweighed by the damage it would create. Some 5,000 Alaskans recently weighed in to support conserving our fisheries and wild places during the Tongass Forest Plan Amendment. Many did so because they recognized a healthy, intact national forest is critical to sustaining the economy of Southeast Alaska. Congressman Young, please don't play politics with the main economic drivers of our region. It only takes one bad decision to mess it up — don't let it be yours. — Michael Cole Juneau Southeast Alaska’s Tongass National Forest produces more wild salmon than anywhere else in the country. At 17 million acres, this magnificent landscape of western hemlock, Sitka spruce, western red cedar and Alaska yellow cedar trees is part of the world’s largest remaining intact temperate rain forest and hosts some of the rarest ecosystems on the planet that are ideal spawning and rearing conditions for wild Pacific salmon and trout. Besides sustaining the cultures and lifestyles of local residents including three coastal tribes, salmon from the Tongass employ one in 10 people in the region and contribute an estimated $1 billion per year to the Southeast Alaska economy. Despite its bounty and unique role as America’s last “salmon forest,” the Tongass faces threats. Salmon depend on intact watersheds that haven’t been degraded by logging and road-building. Despite this, huge volumes of the old growth forest have been logged from public lands in Southeast Alaska. Many miles of road are carved into pristine areas and pulp mills have historically polluted the air and water. Though the situation on the ground is bad, the political climate can, at times, be even worse. Historically, the Forest Service has been too hung-up on supporting the old-growth logging industry to prioritize righting the wrongs done to the forest and protecting salmon and trout for future generations. Until this month. The Forest Service just officially amended the Tongass Land Management Plan to prioritize protections the most important areas for salmon and trout in the forest. The Tongass Land Management Plan is the document that governs activities including logging, road-building, mining, habitat restoration and recreation. The new plan nudges the existing timber industry into using young growth, meaning smaller trees that have grown back after clear-cut logging and, over the course of 16 years, phases out large-scale old growth logging altogether in the Tongass. This is excellent news for Tongass fish and the businesses that depend on them!
While we know special interests, still pining for the heavy logging of the past, will work to roll back or eliminate the best parts of this plan, we are celebrating this major milestone for healthy Tongass fisheries. TU will work to uphold this progress, and also to achieve further investments at the state and federal levels in salmon and recreation. Thank you for your support! Essay by Mark Kaelke This essay is part of an ongoing blog series on the Tongass National Forest, featuring the healthy & productive waters of the "Tongass 77." The Situk River just outside Yakutat will never suffer from a lack of notoriety. Being home to what is easily the largest steelhead run in Alaska at roughly 7,500 fish annually, is not an attribute that has been kept among friends, but the Situk is really just one of several amazingly productive rivers that are part of the Yakutat Forelands.
The Forelands, part of the Tongass National Forest, stretch about 50 miles from Yakutat Bay in the north to Dry Bay to the south. The streams of the Forelands originate as cascades flowing out of the mighty Fairweather Mountains, a coastal range home to southeast Alaska’s tallest peak, 15,300 foot Mount Fairweather, and moderate in flow downstream from lakes along the muskeg forests of the flatlands below. As the rivers make their way 10 to 15 miles to their saltwater terminus, the flatlands have the effect of making them one long “tailout” – a continuous band of almost perfect spawning gravel. Add to that a multitude of slow tributaries that make for ideal rearing habitat, and you have a recipe for massive productivity and incredible species diversity. One simply could not improve on the natural design of the fish factory that is the Yakutat forelands. An old friend from Rhode Island joins me to fish the Situk most springs. We float the river, camp, drink and fish. We do the trip earlier than most people and our off-peak timing sets up an annual flirtation with low flows and deep snow but there’s always at least a few steelhead around and the wildness of the place is omnipresent. With five species of salmon, rainbows, cutthroat and Dolly Varden all calling the Situk home, there’s a target species and time of year for a wide variety of users. The US Congress recognized some of the value of the area, designating a portion of the west slope of the Fairweather Range as Wilderness in 1980. However, the good folks back in Washington DC passed on adding the Forelands portion and thus the fish factory to the Wilderness mix. In 1990, the Tongass Timber Reform Act designated the southern Forelands as LUD II (a protective land designation) but the Situk and Ahrnklin watersheds were left out. Whether this was a good thing or not depends on who you ask and when you ask it. Many sport, commercial and subsistence fishermen who depend on the two areas for fish would say the omission of the Situk and Ahrnklin from Wilderness and LUD II designation leaves their livelihoods hanging but ask some of those same people that question after they just pulled their moose out of the field with the assistance of a four wheeler in one of those watersheds and they’ll likely sing a different tune. Roughly 60,000 acres of the Forelands were staked for potential mining operations as recently as 5 years ago. Although those claims have since been shown to be highly speculative and hugely expensive to investigate further, they were a wake-up call for locals and outside users alike on the impacts that could be thrust upon the Forelands. Trout Unlimited’s Tongass 77 proposal, which includes the Situk and Ahrnklin watersheds, seeks to answer that call with action to protect fisheries, conserve fish habitat and ensure customary and traditional uses and access. Having partaken of the bountiful steelheading on the Situk often over the last 25 years and seen firsthand how fish drive the economy of Yakutat and the region, I think this is a necessary and worthwhile objective. Increasing fish conservation measures and focusing management on fish production for all Tongass 77 watersheds can be done in ways that preserve fisheries while respectingand enabling local uses, but it will it take the support of many to achieve those goals. Given its popularity and productivity, the Situk has more stakeholders than any other stream in the Tongass National Forest. Banded together, this group can be a powerful force in doing right by the Situk. |
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