TAC members identify common ground in timber transition

Tongass Advisory Committee (TAC) members compiled work-group draft recommendations for the Tongass National Forest’s timber management plan amendment at their Nov. 19-21 meeting in Sitka.

Present at the recent meeting was USDA Under Secretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources and the Environment, Robert Bonnie; Beth Pendelton, the U.S. Forest Service Alaska regional forester; and Forrest Cole, the Tongass National Forest supervisor.

Bonnie emphasized the importance of TAC’s opportunity “to find a solution that works for everybody [so] we can move to a place with less controversy, more buy-in and stakeholder support…Our opportunity is to do something here which goes beyond politics and actually creates a course that we can all walk on together,” according to a TAC press release.

In addition to compiling work-group drafts, the members also identified areas of common understanding, including “the need for a predictable supply of young growth timber; the importance of preserving infrastructure and expertise appropriate to the pace and scale of implementation of the Forest Plan Amendment; and the potential limited role for old growth timber harvest through the transition and for future niche markets,” according to the release.

The 15-member committee is formulating their recommendations while taking into consideration the economic and ecological impacts of transitioning from an old-growth to a young-growth timber management plan for the nearly 17 million acre forest. They are also looking at the effect of a new timber management strategy on wildlife–including the impact on salmon habitats–on subsistence harvesters, and on opportunities for renewable energy.

TAC members represent a variety of interests including Native organizations, conservation and environmental groups, government, the timber industry and commercial users.

The committee meets again Jan. 20-23 in Juneau to continue working toward their final recommendations, which will be considered by the Secretary of Agriculture through the Chief of the Forest Service. Final decisions regarding the amendment of the 2008 Tongass Land and Resource Management Plan will be made in August 2016.