 Emerald Bay project could generate about 86 local jobs October 07, 2004
The proposed project would involve the harvest of approximately 16 million board feet of timber from 600 acres on the Cleveland Peninsula within the Tongass National Forest's Ketchikan-Misty Fiords Ranger District. The proposed project is located approximately 40 air miles north of Ketchikan. "This project is part of our ongoing effort to fully implement the Forest Plan and provide sustainable timber harvesting on the Tongass to help local, family-run mills keep operating and create jobs in Southeast Alaska," said Tongass National Forest Supervisor Forrest Cole. According to the Forest Service, the Emerald Bay project could generate about 86 local jobs. The Forest Plan, which was updated in 1997, was designed to assure sustainability for all resources and values, while allowing development on a relatively small portion of the Tongass to support dependent communities in Southeast Alaska. "Under the Forest Plan, more than 90 percent of the Tongass will remain unroaded, wild and undeveloped," Cole said. "It is absolutely possible for the Tongass to meet the diverse needs of people, be it wood products, clean water, recreation, tourism, wilderness - both tangible and intangible things -just as it has for centuries." The Emerald Bay project includes the construction of approximately six miles of new low-impact road within the Cleveland Inventoried Roadless Area. The proposed project also would include the construction of a log transfer facility. Roads and the log transfer facility would be closed following completion of the timber sale. The 45-day public comment period will begin when the Notice of Availability is published in the Federal Register, which is scheduled for Oct. 15th. Comments may be mailed to:
The draft SEIS has been mailed
to interested parties, and is available at the Ketchikan Misty-Fiords
Ranger District, Tongass National Forest, 3031 Tongass Avenue,
Ketchikan, Alaska 99901. For more information, contact Pat Haley
at that address or by phone at (907) 228-4110 or e-mail Haley
at phaley@fs.fed.us.
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