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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 25, 1997 LAB BAY DECISION, URGES REASONABLE MIX OF TIMBER SALES UNDER LAB BAY FEIS.
Alaska Forest Association executive director, Jack Phelps, today praised Regional Forester Phil Janik’s decision to uphold Ketchikan Area Supervisor Brad Powell’s Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) on Lab Bay. "This was the right decision," Phelps said. "The Forest Service had given serious consideration to all the concerns raised by interested parties prior to issuing the FEIS , and there was no reasonable basis for an appeal. These appeals were simply a continuation of the assault on the Forest Service timber sale program by people who just don’t want us to have a timber industry in Southeast Alaska." "The Lab Bay EIS was originally intended to help satisfy the timber supply needs of the pulp mill at Ward Cove as well as to make timber available for the independent sales program," Phelps said. "With the pulp mill gone, Mr. Powell reduced the total volume in the Lab Bay area by 53 percent. Nonetheless, the 42 million feet scheduled for offerings under the FEIS will help shore up the supply needs of other mills in the area which have been running short of wood. The SEACC and Sierra Club appeals were a direct assault on the smaller operators, and on the remaining mills at Klawock, Ketchikan and Metlakatla. " Phelps also expressed concern over Janik’s directive to Powell to "offer as much of the volume as possible in small sale packages in a range of sizes that are appropriate for independent operators to bid on." The industry wants that range to include sales that are economic for the larger independents as well as the very small operators on Prince of Wales island. "If Mr. Janik’s directive means that there will be no offerings in the 20 million foot range, we would have a problem with that," Phelps said. "We also would not want the Ketchikan office prohibited from offering at least one sale in the Lab Bay area that was open to all bidders, even if the majority were open only to SBA qualified companies."
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