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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Sept. 24, 1997 Contact: Jack E. Phelps, Executive Director - (907) 225-6114
Appeal on the Tongass Land Management Plan The Alaska Forest Association filed an administrative appeal today citing illegalities in the process leading to the Record of Decision by the USDA Forest Service on the final Tongass Land Management Plan. Alaska Forest Association Executive Director Jack Phelps filed the appeal today with the Forest Service office in Washington, D.C. The administrative appeal states the Forest Service failed to meet the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the National Forest Management Act (NFMA). In a more than 100-page appeal, the Alaska Forest Association cited many illegal actions on the part of the federal agency, including keeping three key Alaska Forest Supervisors out of the decision-making process. Phelps said AFA is willing to work with the Forest Service to correct what the Association sees as "a skewed process in which there was no balance of resource uses considered for the Tongass." The Alaska Forest Association, based in Ketchikan, represents about 300 member and associate companies involved in Alaska’s forest products industry. In addition to keeping the three Forest Supervisors out of the decision-making loop during the TLMP revision process a process the law requires them to direct AFA asserts several new issues were inserted into the Forest Plan at the time the Record of Decision was finalized in May, 1997. Those new issues were not reviewed according to the requirements of NEPA, " Phelps said. The new material and changes were not analyzed in the same manner as other information and were not properly compared in the alternatives. AFA attempted to address the irregularities in the plan during the comment period on the Revised Supplement to the Draft Environmental Impact Statement in 1996," Phelps said. The Forest Service did not take into account the serious illegalities identified in the AFA comments," he said. Other illegalities cited in the appeal include:
AFA’s appeal calls on the Forest Service to withdraw the Record of Decision and release an amended plan which fully complies with applicable laws and sound science. AFA recognizes that the TLMP process has already cost taxpayers more than $13 million, and is hopeful the illegalities and the resulting skewed decision can be corrected during the administrative appeal, thereby avoiding prolonged legal action. AFA Briefing Paper on the Tongass Land Management Plan Administrative Appeal is enclosed, providing more detailed excerpts from the AFA appeal.
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