Plan to Allow Logging in Alaskan Forest

[citizen snips]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- More than 3 million acres in Alaska's Tongass National Forest would be open to logging under a federal plan that supporters believe will revive the state's timber industry.

Environmentalists, however, fear that the proposal will devastate the forest.

The Bush administration released Friday a management plan for the forest, the largest in the country at nearly 17 million acres. The plan would leave about 3.4 million acres open to logging, road building and other development, including about 2.4 million acres that are now remote and roadless. About 663,000 acres are in areas considered most valuable for timber production.

Alaska Regional Forester Denny Bschor, who approved the Tongass management plan, said its goals are to sustain the diversity and health of the forest, provide livelihoods and subsistence for Alaska residents and ensure a source of recreation and solitude for forest visitors.

more...
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080125/tongass_logging.html?.v=1

[Bobbieo]

1. The Bush Administration wants to do the same thing in Utah and Colorado

by the time his term of office is up, there will be nothing left of beauty in this country. Damn Pelosi - he should have been impeached when she first became House speaker.

[DCKit]

2. Please allow me to translate the following Republic-speak:

"Alaska Regional Forester Denny Bschor, who approved the Tongass management plan, said its goals are to sustain the diversity and health of the forest, provide livelihoods and subsistence for Alaska residents and ensure a source of recreation and solitude for forest visitors."

1) We're going to clear-cut the forest. The resulting mix of weeds, trash trees and non-native species may be sufficient to hold the soils, but don't count on it.

2) The clear-cutting will be almost fully automated. Ten people will be capable of clearing upwards of thirty acres a day. Since workers with the required skills do not currently reside in Alaska, they will be imported from the lower 48, perhaps even, the Amazon region of Brazil.

3) Infrastructure for milling lumbar does not exist and will be too expensive to build on-site. Whole logs will be shipped to Asian and other markets. Port construction and operation will be outsourced to Dubai Ports, LLC.

4) Tens of thousands of miles of new trials for ATVs and snow-mobiles will be opened up. The environmental impact of same will be discounted by a pre-existing, multi-department government study.

5) Once the environment has been completely ravaged, most citizens will move away. We predict an 85% population decrease and much quieter neighborhoods. Solitude is assured.

6) This is the model we intend to use for the rest of Alaska.

[GliderGuider]

3. Boy, you've got that lingo down pat!

That's the most accurate translation of "sustainable forest development" I've ever seen!

[citizen snips]

4. Your post desevers a thread of its own.

[malakai2]

5. You don't work for the FS, do you?

There's a bit more insight there than most casual readers will realize.

[DCKit]

6. 18.5 years in DC. I absorb information through osmosis. n/t

[YankeyMCC]

7. A k&R and maybe even a Duzzy

is what I'd like to give your post...thought the Duzzy is only in the way that you have to laugh at something that is so painfully true.

good job.

[tom_paine]

8. K & R for the sad truth.

[madokie]

9. oops can't rec a reply, durn it anyway

thanks for the explanation, its spot on.