Groups call for end to old-growth logging in SE Alaska & ESA protection for yellow cedarBy MARY KAUFFMAN
July 05, 2014
Both efforts are timely for Southeast Alaska, according to the announcement, as the group says the Forest Service is planning on decades more of old-growth logging and because rare, old-growth cedar will be targeted to subsidize the clear-cutting of the more plentiful and lower value species – spruce and hemlock. According to the Greater Southeast Alaska Conservation Community, the most extensive old-growth remaining nationwide is on the Tongass National Forest and unlike other national forests; the Tongass is the only forest still clear-cutting its old-growth forest. According to the U.S. Forest Service, the Tongass is currently analyzing Plan changes to transition away from old-growth harvest. The Forest Service is looking at which lands will be available for young growth harvest, and changes and direction needed, while maintaining a viable timber industry in Region 10 which includes Haines, Juneau, Ketchikan Gateway, Prince of Wales-Outer, Sitka, Skagway, Hoonah, Angoon, Wrangell, Petersburg, and Yakutat.
Yellow-cedar's shallow roots make it vulnerable to freezing injury in spring when snow is not present to provide insulation.
In the The Greater Southeast Alaska Conservation Community's letter to President Obama calling for an end to old-growth logging, Dr. Natalie Dawson, one of the 75 scientists and GSACC board member said: “This letter indicates the scientific community is ready to see change, change that will prevent timber projects like the Big Thorne timber project on Prince of Wales Island. Big Thorne does not just mean a loss of 6,200 acres of old growth forest (trees up to 800 years old, 100 feet tall, and 12 feet in diameter), but more importantly the loss of habitat for endemic species found only in this biologically rich region. Scientists from across the country are expressing their concern over the Tongass and are hoping this letter is a call to action.” Don Hernandez, a GSACC board member who sits on the Regional Advisory Council to the Federal Subsistence Board, provides a local perspective. “While the scientist’s letter specifically speaks to federal lands, there are other looming threats such as the pending Sealaska land exchange and the Alaska’s push for a timber first State Forest. Both are targeting the best remaining old-growth forests on Prince of Wales Island – especially the small and decreasing cedar component.” And from Bruce Baker, a forester by training and a retired Deputy Director of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Habitat Division, “We need both protection of Southeast Alaska’s dwindling stands of Alaska yellow cedar and a cessation of clear-cutting as the logging method of choice. My answer to those who say there needs to be a balance between logging and protection of fish and wildlife habitat is twofold. First, clear-cut logging results in habitat degradation, not protection, and such degradation is simply not an acceptable tradeoff for clear-cutting. Second, any suggestion of a balance between clear-cut logging and habitat degradation was exceeded decades ago on the Tongass. We long ago passed the point of compromise. An end to the Forest Service’s half-life-of-habitat policy for managing the Tongass is long overdue.” Board member and commercial fisher Becky Knight said: “GSACC is collaborating with other like-minded organizations to reform Tongass NF management. We will continue as partners with the Center for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace, Cascadia Wildlands, and The Boat Company to pool the resources necessary to end this entrenched, money losing, destructive Tongass timber program. There is a better living to be made from a salmon-wildlife-tourism forest.” Hunter McIntosh of The Boat Company recalls “When we first started offering nature-based wilderness cruises in southeast Alaska 35 years ago the region’s predominant mixed-conifer slopes generally looked healthy, with only a few dead-standing yellow cedars in evidence here and there. But now we see mile after mile of slopes where almost all the yellow cedar trees are dead. We should be protecting the remaining healthy mixed conifer enclaves wherever they may still be found in the region, not clear cut them.” Joe Mehrkens former Regional Economist for the Forest Service in Alaska and GSACC Board member said: “In Southeast Alaska, no more old-growth logging is a no-brainer. Global competition has reduced the Tongass-dependent timber industry to less than 1% of the regional economy, and the annual federal expenditures per timber job has skyrocketed into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, EACH. Ironically this federal boondoggle can be only sustained for a little while longer and only by sacrificing very old and rare cedars. And for what? Just to subsidize the unproductive export of more spruce and hemlock logs.” In the USFS' Scheduled of Proposed Action (SOPA) dated 07/01/14-08/30/14, the USFS announced a Tongass Land and Resource Management Plan Amendment process that will address:
The amendment process may address other topics relevant to promoting and speeding the transition to young growth management. According to the Schedule of Proposed Action, it is not expected that changes made to the Tongass Forest Plan will affect the overall integrity of the Plan’s conservation strategy. According to a 2012 study by the U.S. Forest Service, yellow-cedar decline has affected about 60 to 70 percent of trees in forests covering 600,000 acres in Alaska and British Columbia. The cause of this extensive tree death, called yellow-cedar decline, is now known to be a form of root freezing that occurs during cold weather in late winter and early spring when snow is not present on the ground to protect fine roots. Conservation groups filed a formal petition in June to protect yellow cedar trees under the Endangered Species Act because of ongoing threats from climate change and logging. Vast swaths of yellow cedars have died off in the past century, with more than 70 percent of these long-lived, beautiful trees now dead in many areas of Alaska. If approved, yellow cedar would be the first Alaska tree species, and only the second plant in the state, protected by the Endangered Species Act. “Unless we act now, yellow cedar will join the long line of species headed for extinction because of the climate crisis,” said Kiersten Lippmann, a biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity. “While the tree is naturally highly resistant to rot, disease and insects, it has no defense against a warming climate. Our actions caused this decline, and our actions can save it — if we act right now.” “It is long overdue that scarce resources such as 1,000-year-old cedars get the legal scrutiny and protections they deserve,” said Joe Mehrkens, Greater Southeast Alaska Conservation Community board member. Yellow cedar is found from southeast Alaska to Northern California and is most common in the Tongass of Alaska and British Columbia. These trees are a central part of the region’s forests, historically greatly valued by Alaska natives for carving, medicinal and ceremonial purposes; they’re also an important food source for Sitka deer and brown bears. They hold massive amounts of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, and their extinction would be a devastating loss. “Yellow cedar is a key part of the coastal forests of Alaska and British Columbia, and its loss would leave a gaping hole in this extraordinary rainforest,” said Lippmann. “If we don’t take action quickly, we’re going to lose so many iconic Alaska species.” “When we first started offering nature-based wilderness cruises in southeast Alaska 35 years ago,” said Hunter McIntosh of The Boat Company, “the region’s predominant mixed-conifer slopes generally looked healthy, with only a few dead-standing yellow cedars in evidence here and there. But now we see mile after mile of slopes where almost all the yellow cedar trees are dead. We should be protecting the remaining healthy mixed-conifer enclaves wherever they may still be found in the region, not clearcutting them.” As the climate warms, scientists predict, suitable habitat for yellow cedar will disappear. More than 600,000 acres of dead forests are already readily visible from the air. If greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise at their current rates, researchers predict that the tree will be driven to extinction. Projections show yellow cedar inhabiting only tiny fragments of their former range by the year 2085. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, while at the same time eliminating any live-tree harvest by logging, is yellow cedar’s best hope for survival. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must respond to the petition - filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, The Boat Company, Greater Southeast Alaska Conservation Community and Greenpeace - in 90 days and determine whether listing is warranted within one year.
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