PETERSBURG – Members of the Tongass Advisory Committee (TAC) met Jan. 20-23 in Juneau to continue discussions on their recommendations to be considered as part of a new Secretary of Agriculture forest plan that focuses on transitioning timber harvest in the Tongass National Forest from old growth to young growth.
The themes emerging from public comments submitted to the group were discussed as part of the meeting. According to the executive summary prepared on the comments, “The majority of public comments received to date revolve around requests that the TAC look at ways to move the Tongass away from large-scale old-growth timber harvest and raw-log export and toward greater investment in fisheries, tourism/recreation and subsistence uses.”
Other commenters urge a faster transition to young-growth harvest than the current 10-15 year guideline established by USFS under the guidance of the Secretary of Agriculture.
Some commenters encouraged the committee to prioritize timber harvesting and processing as an important economic component in Southeast’s economy. Several commenters indicated a preference for small-mill processing of harvested timber to be used for value-added products as a means of economic development in the area.
The committee heard from a four-member panel presenting under the theme “Assumptions about Young Growth Availability.”
Following the meeting, on Feb. 4, the committee sent a letter to the Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack urging him to give TAC the full allotted time to prepare recommendations. The group is working against an April 2015 deadline.
The letter indicated that the deadline to submit recommendations was, in a “unilateral and untransparent” manner, formally moved from April to January by Forest Supervisor Forrest Cole. Though it’s acknowledged in the letter that the deadline has since been relaxed, the committee asked that their efforts be validated by the inclusion of the committee’s forthcoming recommendations in the new forest plan.
“The Committee still has a great deal of analysis and discussion in front of it before any final decisions can be made,” according to the letter. “A set of collaboratively developed; broadly shared recommendations are less likely to result if the committee is subject to continuously changing timeframe.”
February and March meetings slated for Petersburg and Wrangell have since been moved to Juneau to allow a full quorum of committee members to be in attendance. TAC meets next Feb. 17-19.
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