STATE OF ALASKA Alaska State Legislature January 15, 1998
The Honorable Dan Glickman , Secretary Dear Secretary Glickman : The leadership of the Alaska State Legislature is very concerned about the proposed roadless area entry restrictions on national forest lands. As you know, the Forest Service only recently completed the revision of the Tongass Land Management Plan that, under the National Forest Management Act is to govern land use on the Tongass National Forest for the next decade. We support the Alaska Congressional Delegation’s position calling for an exemption for Alaska if the Administration decides to impose its interim road policy. We agree completely with the position taken by Governor Knowles in his letter to you dated January 12, 1998, that actions taken outside the public planning process are unacceptable to Alaskans. Millions of acres are already protected in the Tongass under Wilderness designations, Old Growth Habitat Reserves, and Land Use Designation ( LUD ) II set-asides. There simply is no need for further "roadless" protections in Alaska’s national forests. We would point out that under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act ( ANILCA ), there is a prohibition on the establishment of any further conservation units in Alaska without Congressional approval. The proposed roadless policy, if applied to Alaska, would be contrary to the spirit, if not the letter, of that provision. Furthermore, available commercial forest lands within the Tongass have already been so reduced that many Southeast Alaska communities are suffering under severe economic hardships. Of the 10 million acres of forest land within the Tongass, all but 700,000 acres is withdrawn and available for timber harvests. The leadership of the Alaska Legislature strongly requests you not to further exacerbate this already difficult situation, and exempt Alaska from any interim policy the Department chooses to impose regarding roadless entry in the national forest system.
Sincerely,
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