News from the Senate Majority

Alaska State Legislature

Wendy Lindskoog, Senate Majority Press Secretary
State Capitol
Juneau, AK 99801-1182
Phone: 907/465-4582
web site: http://www.akrepublicans.org
Broadcast Actualities: 800/478-6540

For Immediate Release: April 24, 1997 Contact: Senator Jerry Mackie at 907/465-4925

Legislature Calls for Completion of Tongass Land Management Plan

JUNEAU - Urging the US Forest Service to bring the decade-long Tongass Land Management Plan (TLMP) to a conclusion and adopt a minimum annual harvest level of 300 million board feet (MMBF) is the intent of legislation passed by the House Thursday unanimously. The resolution passed the Senate by a vote of 19 to 1.

"The Southeast economy has lost $60 million in forest products payroll since 1990, half its timber jobs, and the closure of two pulp mills and one sawmill while the Forest Service continues to stall the approval of a revised Tongass plan," said Senator Jerry Mackie, sponsor of Senate Joint Resolution 24.

The resolution encourages the US Forest Service to immediately finalize the TLMP for the Tongass National Forest so the people and communities of Southeast Alaska can move forward with their economic and personal lives with some degree of certainty.

Jack Phelps, Executive Director of the Alaska Forest Association, noted that having the legislature on record insisting that the forest service offer sufficient timber every year is a valuable part of the Forest Association’s quest to get fair and equitable treatment from the federal government in using the Tongass National Forest.

"The passage of this resolution is very timely," said Phelps. "At a hearing scheduled for Tuesday, April 29, Senator Murkowski will examine irregularities and question the general accounting office on its investigation into the Tongass Land Management Plan Revision Process."

"Alaskan jobs and entire communities are hinging on the outcome of this plan," Mackie said. "Alaskans are anxiously waiting to see if they if they will be granted a minimum annual harvest level of 300 million board feet from the Tongass to help reestablish a viable, integrated timber industry. It’s a crime to delay the plan any longer when Alaskan families need to know if they will have an economic base to support them."

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