 September 16, 2003
The Madan Record of Decision will permit the harvest of 26.5 million board feet of timber from 2,118 acres of National Forest on the mainland near Wrangell Island and the Licking
"The National Forest Service mission, as set forth by law, is to achieve quality land management under the sustainable multiple-use management concept to meet the diverse needs of people," said Tongass National Forest Supervisor Forrest Cole. "These two decisions are part of our ongoing effort to provide small-scale sales to help local, family-run mills keep operating and create jobs in Southeast Alaska." According to Forest Service officials, more than 90 percent of the productive old-growth timber in the area will still remain standing following the Madan sale. The selected alternative incorporates partial harvest that retains approximately 70 percent of the stand structure within harvest units on 73 percent of the 2,118 acres harvested. About 65,300 acres of the nearly 69,700-acre Madan Roadless Area within the project area will not be affected by roadbuilding or harvest. The Madan sale was in the planning stages before the Roadless Area Conservation Final Rule was signed in 2001 and does not fall under the rule's provisions. Forest Service officials said no roadbuilding or timber harvest will occur within any inventoried roadless area for the Licking Creek sale. Cole said the Forest Service has selected specific areas for logging so that fish, wildlife, karst, caves and other resources will be protected. Timber sale administrators will ensure that protective measures are enforced throughout the life of the timber sale contract. The Madan Project will include the construction of 13 miles of new system road and construction of about five miles of temporary road in order to access the selected timber harvest units. Nine miles of road will remain open following the sale and maintained for public use. "We sought to be responsive to comments received which addressed Virginia Lake recreation values, road construction, wildlife habitat and scenic quality before determining the selected alternative for the Madan Project," said Cole. The Licking Creek Project will include the construction of about three miles of new system road, the reconstruction of 1.6 miles of existing road, and construction of 2.4 miles of temporary road in order to access the selected timber harvest units. The 16.2 miles of existing road that will remain open following the sale will be maintained for administrative purposes and public use. The Licking Creek sale will use the existing log transfer facility located at Shoal Cove in Carroll Inlet. The Forest Service also will allow one logging camp for this project. According to the Code of Federal Regulations, these decisions are subject to administrative review. Notices of Appeal must be filed within 45 days of publication of the notices of these decisions in the Juneau Empire, the newspaper of record. Those interested can get copies of the Madan ROD and Final Environmental Impact Statement from the Wrangell Ranger District. People can direct correspondence or requests for copies of the Madan ROD and FEIS to Dick Cozby, Wrangell Ranger District, 525 Bennett Street, P.O. Box 51, Wrangell, Alaska, 99929. Cozby can be reached at (907) 874-2323. Copies of the Licking Creek ROD and FEIS are available from the Ketchikan-Misty Fiords Ranger District or can be reviewed at the Ketchikan Public Library. People can send correspondence or requests for copies of the Licking Creek ROD and FEIS to Jerry Ingersoll, Ketchikan-Misty Fiords Ranger District, 3031 Tongass Avenue, Ketchikan, Alaska 99901. He can be reached at (907) 228-4100. The Tongass National Forest is the largest coastal temperate rain forest in the world stretching nearly 500 miles north to south. The Forest consists of nearly 17 million acres of land, distributed across more than 2,000 islands, and a narrow strip of mainland in Southeast Alaska. The Forest contains abundant timber, wildlife, fisheries, mineral and scenic resources. Under the 1997 Forest Plan, more than 90 percent of the Tongass National Forest will remain unroaded, wild and undeveloped into the foreseeable future. According to Forest Service
officials, after more than 100 years of careful management by
the National Forest Service, there are no terrestrial threatened
or endangered species on the Tongass. Brown bears, gray wolves,
bald eagles and other wildlife rare in the Lower 48 are found
in healthy abundance here.
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