After decades of wrangling over the future of timber on the Tongass National Forest, a group of people from all walks of life came together in 2014 to find a new way forward. Appointed by the U.S. Forest Service, the committee included representatives from the timber industry, Native corporations, tribes, commercial fisheries, conservation groups and other forest users. This Tongass Advisory Committee, as it was called, met a number of times over the next two years. These weren’t always easy discussions – there were plenty of divergent views in the room. Yet in the end, their faith in the people and possibilities of Southeast Alaska prevailed. They reached an unprecedented consensus that spells out a viable and sustainable transition for the Tongass.
When the U.S. Forest Service released its updated plan for managing the future of the Tongass timber harvest earlier this month, we were heartened to see the agency adopt the Tongass Advisory Committee’s hard-won recommendations. It’s a breakthrough for Southeast Alaska because it ends the logjam that has plagued decision-making in the forest for far too long. With this amendment to the Tongass Land Management Plan now in place, the 16.8-million-acre Tongass National Forest has a roadmap. It guides a transition to a new era of more sustainable young-growth forest management after many decades of relying solely on the forest’s limited old-growth forest resource. And, as those of us who live here know, the temperate rainforest of the Tongass is like nowhere else on Earth. It’s an amazing place to live and work and we hope the same will be true for future generations. We think this roadmap will help ensure this.
Here’s what the new plan achieves.
First, it values both the Tongass ecosystem and the people it supports. The plan puts the long-term economic stability of the region’s communities first by ensuring that the region’s wealth of natural resources will be here for the future.
More specifically, the plan charts out a smooth transition toward a new and evolving young-growth forest industry. A 28-million-board-feet young-growth timber sale is now planned for Kosciusko Island. Old-growth harvest will continue, but its share of the annual total harvest will be reduced gradually. By 2033, at least 90 percent of the Tongass’ total timber harvest will come from young-growth forests.
Meanwhile, the areas of the forest that are most important for supporting healthy salmon runs will get the protections they deserve. When you consider that Tongass salmon streams account for nearly a third of the state’s commercial salmon harvest, this makes sense. In so many ways, the Tongass runs on salmon. People’s livelihoods, cultural traditions and way of life rely on this wild natural resource. Decisions about how public lands are used need to reflect this.
The Tongass Transition is about more than timber management. The transition calls for restoring more forests and streams, plus creating new jobs in renewable energy, mariculture, fishing and tourism. Many elements are already underway – the economy is more diversified than ever before, and that continues to create more opportunity in our communities.
Compromises are far from perfect. We acknowledge the Tongass Land Management Plan hasn’t been met with universal support. Some details have yet to be hammered out. But that’s no reason to trash the plan. Instead, getting these details right is the work that awaits us all.
Let’s honor the bold work of the Tongass Advisory Committee and seek ways to implement this vital shift in the future of the forest. Groups on all sides need to come together to make the transition work because this is the best option for a sustainable future in Southeast Alaska.
We believe that the transition will succeed if people and organizations on all sides of the issues can join us and do the same. Let’s work together to ensure the spirit and letter of the Tongass Transition continues to serve the people and remarkable natural resources of Southeast Alaska.
• Rand Hagenstein is Alaska state director for The Nature Conservancy. Christine Woll is Southeast Alaska program director for The Nature Conservancy.
