Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
the U.S. Forest Service, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, and the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service; conservation partners, such as the Sitka Conservation Society, The
Nature Conservancy, Trout Unlimited, and The Wilderness Society; local watershed
councils; and others have a strong understanding of the ecological context and treat-
ment options. The U.S. Forest Service and three conservation groups have developed
publications documenting and prioritizing restoration opportunities on Prince of
Wales Island and in Sitka (e.g., Albert et al. 2008). The impacted ecosystems are re-
silient and likely to respond to treatment, and most stakeholders generally agree on
the restoration needs, although not always on the prescription.
Collaborative venues, like the Tongass Futures Roundtable, have done much to
lessen the historical, acrimonious relationship between the timber industry and envi-
ronmentalists. Although appeals and litigation still play an important role in resource
management decisions, collaborative priorities are increasingly common in shaping
project-level decisions. For example, several conservation partners have actively raised
money and encouraged the U.S. Forest Service to implement restoration projects (Ja-
cobson and Bosworth 2007). The relationships fostered through these projects have
led to additional partner and stakeholder involvement (e.g., the Forest Service now of-
ten solicits partner input about projects early on). Joint field trips to future restoration
sites and rural, forest-dependent communities in the other western states have en-
couraged on-the-ground learning, rich debate, common ground, and a commitment
to further partnerships.
These emerging relationships between the government, nonprofit organizations,
and community members have inspired interest in developing watershed-level proj-
ects that integrate a diversity of restoration treatments and values, and demonstrate the
potential for integrated, sustainable forest management. For example, The Nature
Conservancy, in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, recently completed a year-
long process involving more than fifty individual partners on the Staney Community
Forest on Prince of Wales Island—a process that led to a Collaborative Forest Land-
scape Restoration proposal that was submitted for national funding by the regional
forester.
Challenges and Recommendations
It is unrealistic to expect the Tongass to simply end its old-growth logging program.
The acrimony following the Northwest Forest Plan and the abrupt changes to logging
in the Pacific Northwest region can serve as an instructive lesson. Any transition to a
new model of forest management will require both the U.S. Forest Service staff to pro-
duce the projects and the industry capacity to perform the work. Ceasing current log-
ging practices would have immediate, detrimental effects on the agency's budget and
staff and could result in operators simply shutting down and leaving the wood prod-
ucts industry, idling infrastructure that could be used to support restoration through
utilization of smaller-diameter trees. Furthermore, timber has long been a way of life
in southeast Alaska, and the region can ill afford more divisive conflict that further po-
larizes already weary stakeholders.
