Obama Administration Should Protect Tongass National Forest Old Growth To Achieve Urgent Climate Change Goals
For Immediate Release on June 30, 2016
– Tongass Logging Plan Ignores Fast Exit from Old-growth Logging
– Agency Relies on Old School Forestry Tactics
– Contradicts Secretary of State John Kerry’s and President Obama’s Climate Statements
Media Contact: Dominick DellaSala, GEOS Institute | Dominick@geosinstitute.org 541- 482-4459 x 302; 541-621-7223 (cell)
Ashland, OR – The release of the Forest Service’s old-growth logging plan (Final Environmental Impact Statement) for the Tongass National Forest stalls urgent climate change protections and runs counter to the Obama administration’s climate change directives. The plan contradicts the US-led Paris Climate Change Agreement that includes measures to protect vast amounts of carbon stored in forests to help head off dangerous global warming. The Forest Service’s plan calls for continued logging of old growth trees for another 16 years, which threatens 43,000 acres of Tongass old-growth rainforest. The unnecessarily long timeframe will release the equivalent emissions of 4 million vehicles annually over the next 100 years at a time when nations are looking to cut back on emissions.
“On the heels of news last March that global carbon dioxide levels exceeded the 400 parts per million mark, old-growth forests on the Tongass, the nation’s most carbon dense forest, are being clearcut. The Tongass absorbs about 8% of the nation’s carbon dioxide pollution annually – far greater than any other national forest,” said Dr. Dominick DellaSala, Chief Scientist at Geos Institute’s Forest Legacy Program. He added, “The Forest Service has become a rogue agency ignoring the Administration’s own climate change policies at the expense of one of the world’s most expansive and carbon-dense temperate rainforests.”
DellaSala and other Tongass forest experts stress two key points:
- Based on independent forest inventory and modeling studies conducted by Geos partner (Mater Engineering Ltd), so-called second-growth trees (previously clearcut in the 1950s but since regrown) can meet projected timber volume demand by 2020, a much faster timeframe than the Forest Service’s longer transition.
- The estimated health and economic costs of carbon emissions from increased logging on the Tongass to Alaska citizens will exceed projected timber revenues by a factor of at least ten by mid-century.
The agency also has refused to complete an already-designed second growth economic study designed by Mater Engineering Ltd—with industry participation—to demonstrate marketability of locally processed young growth.
US government agencies should be in synch on tackling the climate change crisis. Just last week, Secretary of State Kerry issued a joint statement with Norway’s Environment Minister that said:
“The science is clear: conserving, restoring and sustainably managing the world’s natural forests is critical to achieving a safe, secure, and sustainable world.”
President Obama also visited Alaska last declaring it the nation’s signpost on global warming and stressing urgent international action to address a pending climate change crisis.
Spokespeople:
Dr. Dominick A. DellaSala – Geos Institute; 541-482-4459 x 302; 541-621-7223 Chief Scientist at the Ashland, Oregon-based Geos Institute and editor of Temperate and Boreal Rainforests of the World, Ecology and Conservation.
Jim Furnish – Deputy Chief Forest Service, retired; 240-271-1650 Retired Forest Service Deputy Chief and Supervisor of the Siuslaw National Forest (Oregon). Furnish has experienced forest logging transition that is similar to what’s needed in the Tongass. During his tenure, the Siuslaw faced a 1994 court-ordered transition over the spotted owl listing, which led to the quick transition into younger forests and restoration. According to Furnish, timber supply is stable without controversial old-growth logging.
Catherine Mater – Mater Engineering; 541-753-7335 Catherine Mater of Oregon-based Mater Engineering Ltd. In 2015, Mater spearheaded the most intensive timber cruises ever conducted on the Tongass National Forest, focusing on 55-year second growth stands. Pilot projects are currently underway with Alaska industry partners to log in 2016 representative samplings of 55-year second growth stands to determine volume, grade recovery, and range of value-add products that can be manufactured.
Additional Resources and Information
- Letter sent on June 30, 2016 to the Council on Environmental Quality, the Office of Management and Budget, and the U.S. Department of State
- Reports on emissions and Tongass second growth availability
Media Coverage
- Final EIS would end Tongass old-growth logging in 16 years, GreenWire article published July 5, 2016 (don’t have a subscription? You can read the article here)
- Forest Service announces changes to Tongass plan, Juneau Empire (June 30, 2016)
- TLMP amendment draft decision announced, KRBD radio (June 30, 2016)
- My Turn: Tongass logging transition doesn’t do enough for old growth or timber jobs, Juneau Empire (July 7, 2016)
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Robert Macnee, Ph.D. is Deputy Director of Resilience Services at Climate Resilience Consulting, where he helps governments, institutions, and communities reduce climate risk in equitable and practical ways. He holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Management focused on climate change impacts on health and communities, and brings over a decade of experience spanning economic development, resilience planning, and implementation.
Samantha Medlock is President of Climate Risk Advisors, helping communities and organizations advance equity, sustainability, and resilience. Her career began chasing floods as a local official in Texas Flash Flood Alley—a hands-on experience that still shapes her approach to climate and disaster risk management.
Jim is a multilingual world traveler. Based in Bavaria during the 1970s, Jim spent most of this period in India, Afghanistan and Nepal, where he founded and operated a charitable medical clinic serving Tibetan Refugees. He settled in Oregon in 1983 on a forested ranch in the Umpqua National Forest.
Dr. Micah Hahn is an Associate Professor of Environmental Health in the Institute for Circumpolar Health Studies at the University of Alaska-Anchorage. She received her joint PhD in Epidemiology / Environment and Resources from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her MPH in Global Environmental Health from Emory University. Subsequently, she was a postdoctoral fellow for the CDC Climate and Health Program, and in this position worked collaboratively with the CDC Division of Vector-borne Diseases and the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Her research focuses on understanding the health impacts of climate change and working with communities to develop locally-relevant adaptation and resilience-building strategies. Dr. Hahn is also on the Management Team of the Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center.
Michael is a former Founding Principal of Resilient Cities Catalyst, a global non-profit helping cities and their partners tackle their toughest challenges. He is currently the Executive Director of Climate Resilience Academy at the University of Miami.
Dr. Quintus Jett is a consultant, educator, and strategist for public causes. He has a doctorate in Organizations & Management from Stanford University, and a two-decade faculty career which spans schools, departments, and programs of business, engineering, liberal studies, divinity, and public and nonprofit management. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Dr. Jett launched a volunteer project in New Orleans, which enlisted residents, students from over a dozen colleges and universities, and hundreds of others to field map the city’s Gentilly district, Lower Ninth Ward, and New Orleans East. Dr. Jett is an innovator in higher education, bridging the divide between academic research and the other priorities of the modern university, including student access and diversity, community engagement, and providing foundations for life-long learning in today’s rapidly changing world.
Scott is Monfort Professor of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University. He has written about 100 publications in the peer-reviewed climate literature, is a former editor of the Journal of Climate, and served for five years as founding Science Chair of the North American Carbon Program.
Linda has many years of experience in disaster preparedness and resilience. She has been an elected official on the Linn County Iowa Board of Supervisors, Chair of the Metropolitan Planning Organization, the East Central Iowa Council of Governments, the statewide Mental Health Developmental Disability and the Linn County Board of Health. Langston is a former president of the National Association of Counties (2013-2014).
Ken works with families and organizations as a mediator, organizational consultant, trainer and facilitator. Along with his passion for helping people prepare for and reduce climate change, Ken also volunteers as a mediator through Mediation Works and is passionate about supporting youth through mentoring with Boys to Men of Southern Oregon.
Matthew is a retired high school teacher who was once honored as Oregon High School Social Studies Teacher of the Year. Before his teaching career he was in the restaurant business in Portland. He is also a lawyer who has been a member of the Oregon State Bar Association since 1980.
Andrea is the Resilience Policy Advisor for the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency. She works across state agencies and with local governments to increase the state’s resilience to the impacts of climate change.