Sportsmen Against Bush
December 29th, 2003, 06:12 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A26001-2003Dec23?language=printer
washingtonpost.com
Administration Opens Alaska's Tongass Forest to Logging
By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 24, 2003; Page A16
Capping more than 10 years of intense controversy over the fate of
some of the nation's last remaining old-growth forest, the Bush
administration yesterday finalized the opening of 300,000 acres of
Alaska's Tongass National Forest for logging and other development.
"This is the end of a very long process," said Mark Rey,
undersecretary for natural resources and the environment at the
Department of Agriculture, which oversees the national forest system.
"We used the best scientific information available to strike a balance
between protecting as much as we could . . . while maintaining a small
part of the Tongass for use and management to sustain the 72,000
people who live in southeastern Alaska."
The administration's action was not unexpected. After years of
maneuvers and counter-maneuvers by advocates and opponents of Tongass
logging and the involvement of all three branches of government, the
Agriculture Department proposed its final rule in June as part of an
agreement in which the state of Alaska -- which wanted the land opened
-- promised to drop a lawsuit against the federal government.
Nonetheless, the final action drew angry protests from environmental
groups -- and pledges to find other ways to halt the decision. "This
is . . . a Christmas present from the Bush administration to the
timber industry, which wants the right to clearcut in America's
greatest temperate forest," Earthjustice Alaska said in a statement.
Tongass is the nation's largest national forest, covering 16.8 million
acres, of which 9.3 million acres consist of timber -- the rest being
mostly rock, ice or water, said Ray Massey, a Forest Service spokesman
for the Alaska region. "The near-term effect will be a few timber
sales that will go through," Massey said.
Alaska Gov. Frank H. Murkowski (R) and U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R)
applauded the decision, emphasizing that the rule would protect 95
percent of the national forest.
But Amy Mall of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said it would
open to development "the most valuable habitat from one of our most
important forests and one of the most ancient forests worldwide. The
trees they want to log are the biggest and oldest." Of more than
250,000 comments the agency received, she said, fewer than 2,000
favored the rule.
Staff writer Dana Milbank contributed to this report.
washingtonpost.com
Administration Opens Alaska's Tongass Forest to Logging
By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 24, 2003; Page A16
Capping more than 10 years of intense controversy over the fate of
some of the nation's last remaining old-growth forest, the Bush
administration yesterday finalized the opening of 300,000 acres of
Alaska's Tongass National Forest for logging and other development.
"This is the end of a very long process," said Mark Rey,
undersecretary for natural resources and the environment at the
Department of Agriculture, which oversees the national forest system.
"We used the best scientific information available to strike a balance
between protecting as much as we could . . . while maintaining a small
part of the Tongass for use and management to sustain the 72,000
people who live in southeastern Alaska."
The administration's action was not unexpected. After years of
maneuvers and counter-maneuvers by advocates and opponents of Tongass
logging and the involvement of all three branches of government, the
Agriculture Department proposed its final rule in June as part of an
agreement in which the state of Alaska -- which wanted the land opened
-- promised to drop a lawsuit against the federal government.
Nonetheless, the final action drew angry protests from environmental
groups -- and pledges to find other ways to halt the decision. "This
is . . . a Christmas present from the Bush administration to the
timber industry, which wants the right to clearcut in America's
greatest temperate forest," Earthjustice Alaska said in a statement.
Tongass is the nation's largest national forest, covering 16.8 million
acres, of which 9.3 million acres consist of timber -- the rest being
mostly rock, ice or water, said Ray Massey, a Forest Service spokesman
for the Alaska region. "The near-term effect will be a few timber
sales that will go through," Massey said.
Alaska Gov. Frank H. Murkowski (R) and U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R)
applauded the decision, emphasizing that the rule would protect 95
percent of the national forest.
But Amy Mall of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said it would
open to development "the most valuable habitat from one of our most
important forests and one of the most ancient forests worldwide. The
trees they want to log are the biggest and oldest." Of more than
250,000 comments the agency received, she said, fewer than 2,000
favored the rule.
Staff writer Dana Milbank contributed to this report.