JUNEAU, AK (April 4, 2007) -- On April 3, the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, Tongass Conservation Society and other conservation groups reached a settlement agreement with the Forest Service and the timber industry. The conservation groups worked with the Forest Service and mill operators to hammer out a way to safeguard important community use areas while keeping the mills supplied with timber until the agency issues a new forest plan. The Forest Service withdrew multiple timber sales approved under the illegal 1997 Tongass forest plan that targeted important community use areas, such as the Emerald Bay sale on the Cleveland Peninsula, pending completion of the current forest plan revision.

“This decision is good for our business and good for Ketchikan,” says Bonnie Oaksmith of the Clover Bay Lodge on Prince of Wales Island. “Our lodge has been a substantial part of Ketchikan’s economy for 23 years. It is imperative the Forest Service plan addresses the needs of all users of the Tongass. Our business and others who need standing trees must be part of the future of the forest.”

Undeveloped lands like the Cleveland Peninsula, Moose Creek near Wrangell, and Little Seal Bay near Tenakee Springs support sport hunting, commercial and sport fishing, customary and traditional hunting, fishing and gathering, and guiding and tourism businesses. The streams and rivers in these areas also serve as key spawning habitat for wild salmon. Building more roads to clearcut Tongass old-growth in these wild watersheds harms these other values.

“The trips I take to Emerald Bay and Vixen Inlet provide a large portion of my annual income,” says Mark Galla, owner and hunting and sightseeing guide for Alaska Peak and Seas. “For my business, places that haven’t been logged are important. I’m glad the Forest Service is considering a forest plan that takes into account the value of places like Emerald Bay for businesses like mine.”

“Seal Bay, Long Bay and Goose Flats have been our stomping grounds for the three decades that my husband, Jed, and I have lived in Tenakee Inlet,” says Joan McBeen from Tenakee Springs. “From commercial fishing to berry-picking, we have come to understand how important a healthy forest is to our way of life. That’s why it’s important to me that the Forest Service keeps places like these safe from logging.”

“The Tongass Conservation Society hopes the Forest Service uses this settlement agreement as food for thought while reshaping the Tongass Plan,” says Gregory Vickrey. “We need to keep valuable places like the Cleveland Peninsula and Gravina Island intact.”

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the Forest Service to revise the 1997 forest plan because the agency doubled its experts’ projections of market demand for Tongass timber. This error exaggerated projected logging levels and resulted in much more land being designated for logging than was necessary to supply local mills. Many important community use areas were slated for logging under the 1997 plan.

“This settlement allows the timber industry and other users of the forest—such as tourism businesses, subsistence, and recreation users—some breathing room while the Forest Service finalizes the forest plan,” says Dave Sherman of the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council. “People and communities of Southeast Alaska deserve a forest plan that reflects the economic realities and true multiple-use in the 21st century.”