February 12, 2003
Wednesday - 7:50 pm

Juneau - Governor Frank Murkowski this morning distributed a fact sheet about the Tongass National Forest and its management. According to a news release from the Office of the Governor, the purpose of making this information available was to ensure the Alaska

"Given the misinformation circulating in the national press about the proposed Tongass language in the Interior Appropriations bill now pending before Congress, I think it is appropriate for the State of Alaska to set the record straight."... Gov. Murkowski

press has the facts regarding uses of the Tongass under the 1997 Tongass Land Management Plan.

"Given the misinformation circulating in the national press about the proposed Tongass language in the Interior Appropriations bill now pending before Congress, I think it is appropriate for the State of Alaska to set the record straight," Murkowski said.

The fact sheet points out that only 4% of the Tongass is available for timber harvest over the next 100 years, under the current plan. Of the 5.4 million acres capable of producing commercial timber, harvest is allowed on only 12.5% (676,000 acres).

Murkowski pointed out that "The national press keeps referring to 9 million acres of "roadless" areas in the Tongass being at risk of tree removal. The truth is that most of those acres are off limits already, and some of them don't even have commercial timber growing on them." Under current legal constraints, 1.7 million acres of the Tongass are

"...I don't want to see any more companies declare bankruptcy. We can maintain jobs and create wood products for use here and elsewhere without harming the Tongass."... Gov. Murkowski

included in the harvestable timberland base, and only 40% of that can be harvested over the 100 year rotation.

"Even if there was a maximum harvest on all available acres over the next century," Murkowski said, "it still would not make an appreciable dent in the unroaded areas of the Tongass."

"The bottom line is, we need to manage the 1.7 million acres of timberlands under the plan for maximum sustained harvest so we can once again have a vibrant economy in Southeast Alaska. I don't want to see any more companies declare bankruptcy. We can maintain jobs and create wood products for use here and elsewhere without harming the Tongass," Murkowski said.

At 17 million acres, the Tongass is the nation's largest National Forest

41% - 7 million acres non-forested lands, glaciers, cliffs, muskeg, etc.
59% - 10 million acres are forested.

Of the 10 million forested acres on the Tongass:

46% - 4.6 million acres are not capable of producing commercial timber.
54% - 5.4 million acres are capable of producing commercial timber.

7.0 million acres of the Tongass (41%) are closed to development, including Wilderness (5.8 million acres) and legislatively designated LUD II areas.

Of the 5.4 million acres capable of producing commercial timber:

87.5% - 4,724,000 million acres are closed to timber harvests.
12.5% - 676,000 acres are available for scheduled timber sales.
(Only 4% of the entire Tongass is available for harvest over 100 years.)

Less than 400,000 acres (2.4% of the Tongass) have been harvested since the mid 1950's when industrial scale logging began.

No harvested acreage has ever failed to produce a second growth forest:

• Young-growth is often 15,000 seedlings/acre which must be thinned to 300.
• Young-growth doubles the value of each acre of forest. Half the wood from the first harvest is good only for pulp. Young-growth comes in with more wood volume and a better species mix for sawlog harvest.
• Some second growth tress are already 80 feet tall and >20" in diameter.

"Ancient Forest" in the Tongass:

• On areas of the Tongass that have not been harvested, the forest generally consists of 300 to 400 year old stands of spruce, hemlock, and cedar.
• 85% of the high volume old growth existing in 1954 is still standing; 90% of the remaining high volume stands are now protected.
• These over-mature stands typically lose as much timber volume to death and decay in any given year as they gain through new growth; in other words, they are stagnant.
• Today's newly cut areas are tomorrow's ancient forest. This is similar to the natural process of forest decay, blowdown, disease, fire, and subsequent regrowth.

The timber program on the Tongass is important to the economy of Southeast Alaska.

• In 1992, the Tongass supported more than 3,000 full-time jobs with a payroll of $122 million.
• By 2001, Tongass harvest accounted for only about 600 jobs.
• The Tongass timber industry has lost 2,000 jobs and $100 million in payroll.

The timber program on the Tongass has been profitable for the Federal Government.

FY 1989 - profit $8.7 million
FY 1990 - profit $13.6 million
FY 1991 - $13.1 million
FY 1992 - below cost $20 million
FY 2001 - below cost approx. $34 million

Why did the Tongass lose money in FY 1992 and following years?

• $7 million was rebate to mills for stumpage overchange accrued between 1989 and 1992, but paid out 1992.
• $10 million in 1992 was for a one-time write-off of previous road investments which were rendered worthless when Congress excluded areas from the timber program as a result of the passage of the Tongass Timber Reform Act (TTRA).
• The trend of unacceptable accounting practices and high overhead continues, including:
  • Accounting practices which fully amortize road investments in the year they were expended;
  • All costs of environment analysis, appeals and litigation;
  • Payments to communities under Forest Receipts program;
  • Reforestation costs, including all Knudson-Vandenburg fund allocations;
  • The loss of the Purchaser Credit program which allowed the Region to inexpensively build permanent roads desired by the agency.

Allowable Sale Quantity (ASQ) in the Tongass:

• TLMP now provides for an ASQ of 267 mmbf per year, of which only 220 mmbf is considered economical under present technology. (After TTRA, the ASQ was 520 mmbf)
• Actual harvest has averaged less than 150 million board feet per year because the Forest Service has failed to put up sufficient economic timber sales, partly due to environmentalist challenges to Forest Service sales.
  

Source of News Release:

Office of the Governor
Web Site

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