tongass national forest

The road system that exists in the region is in place because of the resource extraction history in the region, primarily established by the Forest Service to enable timber harvest. [11] Over half the old growth timber was removed there by the mid 1990s. [13], Finally, in 1990, a Federal District Court in Alaska, in a case called Stein v Barton, held the US Forest Service had to protect all salmon streams in the Tongass with buffer strips. [citation needed], The battle for buffer strips, to protect salmon streams from logging, which began in the Zieske v Butz lawsuit, continued through comments submitted to the major US Forest Service Environmental Impact Statements issued in subsequent 5-year intervals starting in 1979,[12] and continuing in the 1988 EIS. The most controversial logging in the Tongass has involved the roadless areas. For FAQs and answers, please see our Prince of Wales Landscape Level Analysis Project (POW LLA) FAQs page. Analysis by the Woodwell Climate Research Center found that the Tongass National Forest holds 44% of all the carbon stored by the United States’ national forests. [6] The court found the Alaska Treaty of Cessation between Russia and the United States did not extinguish aboriginal title to the land, and that the creation of the Tongass National Forest constituted a taking of land from the Tlingit and Haida. The USFS has a long history of mismanaging money in the Tongass, with an average loss to taxpayers of $21.7 million per year from 2008-2013. The karst terrain often produces large trees and has fewer muskeg bogs, and has also been preferentially logged.[18]. They contain over 5,750,000 acres (23,300 km2) of territory,[35] also more than any other. [31] 70,000 people inhabit the region. The Tongass is the nation’s largest national forest and covers most of Southeast Alaska, surrounding the famous Inside Passage and offers unique chances to view eagles, bears, spawning salmon, and the breath-taking vistas of “wild” Alaska. In 1908 the forest was renamed and expanded, and today the The case was finally settled in 1968 with a $7.5 million payment that valued the Tongass at about 43 cents an acre. On 1 July 1908, the two forests were joined, and the combined forest area encompassed most of Southeast Alaska. Further presidential proclamations of 16 February 1909 (in the last months of the Roosevelt administration) and 10 June, and in 1925 (by Calvin Coolidge) expanded the Tongass. However, installing roads in the vast wilderness areas of the Tongass is also a point of controversy for many in the American public, as reflected in the roadless area conservation movement, which has opposed further road construction on the grounds that it would promote habitat fragmentation, diminish wildlife populations and damage salmon spawning streams. [17], Historically, logging operations tended to concentrate on lower-elevation, bigger-tree ecosystems for harvesting; at present, approximately 78% of the land remains intact, i.e. Three Alaska Native nations live in Southeast Alaska: the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian. For the fourth consecutive year the Tongass NF, Alaska Native peoples, local communities, U.S. Coast Guard, and the State of Alaska provided the Together Tree to the Alaska Governor. That just makes no sense. As of 2008, the Forest Service has released a new amendment to the Forest Plan for the Tongass Forest. Opening up the Tongass National Forest to additional logging and development could … Those projects were Iyouktug Timber Sales ROD (record of decision), Scratchings Timber Sale ROD II, and Kuiu Timber Sale Area ROD. [33] Current harvesting plans call for a phase-out of old-growth harvesting, to be replaced by rotation harvesting of managed second-growth forests.[34]. Tongass National Forest is a 17 million acre park located in Alaska, covering at least 80% of Alaska's southeast region. Federal Building The Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska is the largest U.S. National Forest at 16.7 million acres (26,100 sq mi; 68,000 km ). The suit threatened to halt clearcutting in the United States. [30] While the timber industry dominated the economy for a long time, the region has transitioned into "non-timber... [sources of revenue] such as recreation, subsistence food, salmon, scientific use, and carbon sequestration [which] contributes more than $2 billion" annually. Shades of Green: Welcome to the Tongass National Forest - YouTube. by . Native corporation lands are those designated by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 (ANCSA). Proponents of the amendment said that the federal timber program in Tongass is a dead loss for taxpayers, costing some $30 million annually, and noted that the Forest Service faces an estimated $900 million road maintenance backlog in the forest. Zieske v. Butz, 412 F.Supp. The Tongass National Forest, millions of years in the making, is at a crossroads. Most of its area is temperate rain forest and is remote enough to be home to many species of endangered and rare flora and fauna. [28], Trump's Forest Service removed most of the Tongass National Forest from roadless area designation in October 2020, allowing road construction and logging in more than 9.3 million acres of rainforest. TTY: 907-228-6222 ", The Tongass Timber Reform Act, enacted in 1990, significantly reshaped the logging industry's relationship with the Tongass National Forest. Also in Southeast Alaska, but not in the Tongass National Forest, are the Glacier Bay Wilderness and a small part of the Wrangell-Saint Elias Wilderness, which are both administered by the National Park Service. The Tongass includes parts of the Northern Pacific coastal forests and Pacific Coastal Mountain icefields and tundra ecoregions. The forest is administered from Forest Service offices in Ketchikan. Browse 1,322 tongass national forest stock photos and images available, or search for tongass national forest bear to find more great stock photos and pictures. Southeast Alaska is an extensive landscape, with communities scattered across the archipelago on different islands, isolated from each other and the mainland road system. Court, Anchorage), 4 March 2011, "Trump administration proposes expanding logging in Alaska's Tongass National Forest", "Trump to strip protections from Tongass National Forest, one of the biggest intact temperate rainforests", "Economic Realities in the Tongass National Forest", "The Tongass National Forest: Recreationalists' Paradise and Wildlife Lover's Dream", "Opinion: The Amazon forest isn't the only one in peril. Major disturbances in the Tongass National Forest include windfall and landslides. It is home to the Tlingit, Haida, and Tshimsian Peoples. Welcome to the Tongass National Forest. From largest to smallest they are the Forrester Island Wilderness, the Saint Lazaria Wilderness, and the Hazy Islands Wilderness. Tongass Land Management Plan Supplemental EIS, 1991. The area was designated in 1902 as the Alexander Archipelago Forest Reserve by President Theodore Roosevelt. At nearly 17 million acres, the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska is the largest national forest in the United States. Further, they argue that existing roads are sufficient.[21]. Most of its area is temperate rain forest and is remote enough to be home to many species of endangered and rare flora and fauna. US District Court, Alaska. However, the Forest Service also conducts NEPA analyses, layout, and administrative operations to support these sales, and as such, the government does not make a profit overall. Steiner, R. 1998. The project area includes, but is not limited to, Mitkof, Kupreanof, Kuiu, Wrangell, Zarembo and Etolin Islands and the Alaska mainland. Federal District Court judge James von der Heydt ruled in their favor in December 1975[9] and March 1976,[10] enjoining clearcutting of over 150 square miles (390 km2) of the north end of Prince of Wales Island. Los Angeles Times editorial, 21 December 2009. [26] The Order concluded in part: Because the reasons proffered by the Forest Service in support of the Tongass Exemption were implausible, contrary to the evidence in the record, and contrary to Ninth Circuit precedent, the court concludes that promulgation of the Tongass Exemption was arbitrary and capricious. That’s according to data released Tuesday by a coalition of … [29] Clear-cut lands lose the carbon sink of old-growth forest, habitat for wildlife, and soil stability, causing landslides. The Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska is our nation’s largest national forest, nearly 17 million acres in size. The Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center, built in 1962, was the first Forest Service visitor center in the nation. Years from now, it may look very different. Along with the Central and North Coast regions of British Columbia designated as the Great Bear Rainforest, the Tongass is part of the "perhumid rainforest zone", and the forest is primarily made up of western red cedar, sitka spruce, and western hemlock. Timber harvest in Southeast Alaska consisted of individual handlogging operations up until the 1950s, focusing on lowlying areas and beach fringe areas. The Forest Service is planning to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to analyze a variety of resource management actions to implement over a 15-year period. Local winter windstorms referred to as the "Takus" can affect the structure of some stands and often cause single-tree blow-downs. [23] The timber sale was permanently stopped by a lawsuit.[24][25]. Pull on your rubber boots, we are going on a hike to get to know the Tongass National Forest. Trump has his eye on Alaska", Tongass National Forest Land Management Plan Final EIS, National Wilderness Areas by State, 14 November 2008, "Sen. Murkowski Introduces Revised Sealaska Lands Bill - Alaska Business Monthly - February 2013 - Anchorage, AK", http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AK_ALASKA_LAND_FIGHT_AKOL-?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT, The National Forest Foundation's Conservation Plan for Tongass National Forest, Collection of photographs spanning the Tongass National Forest, Greater Southeast Alaska Conservation Community, Full list of all state parks, recreation areas and sites, historic parks and sites, and marine parks, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tongass_National_Forest&oldid=1017393082, Protected areas of Haines Borough, Alaska, Protected areas of Hoonah–Angoon Census Area, Alaska, Protected areas of Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Alaska, Protected areas of Prince of Wales–Hyder Census Area, Alaska, Protected areas of Wrangell City and Borough, Alaska, Protected areas of Yakutat City and Borough, Alaska, Wikipedia articles in need of updating from December 2020, All Wikipedia articles in need of updating, Articles with unsourced statements from February 2009, Articles needing additional references from July 2019, All articles needing additional references, All articles with vague or ambiguous time, Vague or ambiguous time from September 2019, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with multiple identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, 16.7 million acres (26,100 sq mi; 68,000 km, This page was last edited on 12 April 2021, at 14:29. 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