Tongass National Forest

The application of the findings of the Brackley et al. study in the Draft EIS resulted in questions and requests for clarification. A broad range of these questions and concerns are addressed in a Draft Addendum to the study prepared by Brackley and Haynes. This report is presently available in draft form on the Pacific Northwest Research Station site.

The final version of the Brackley et al. (2006) report—Timber Products Output and Timber Harvests in Alaska: Projections for 2005-25—is now available as General Technical Report PNW-GTR-677 on the Pacific Northwest Research Station Web site.

The final version of this report differs from the draft linked below (in the 07/13/06 post) in two main ways: 1) the final version has been formatted with an updated Table of Contents and the tables and figures embedded in the text, and 2) there have been some revisions to the annual derived demand and harvest projection data presented in Tables 3 and 4. The revisions to Tables 3 and 4 are incorporated into the analysis presented in the Draft EIS.

The Forest Service has developed a series of public information posters that summarize key aspects of the Tongass Forest Plan and Draft EIS. One of these posters addresses Timber Demand. The Timber Demand poster summarizes the approach we have taken regarding Annual Market Demand and Planning Cycle Demand for this project.

The poster explains that several independent demand analyses, as well as the 2006 timber demand analysis prepared by the Pacific Northwest Research Station (Brackley et al. 2006), suggest that the planning cycle demand could potentially be approximately 360 MMBF per year assuming a fully integrated industry.

Key questions from a Tongass Forest Plan perspective are: 1) how much of the potential timber demand should be provided by the Tongass (versus state and private lands)? and 2) what would the effects of meeting this demand be on the Tongass land base and associated resources?

One of the reasons we are currently amending the Forest Plan is that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (see court decision ) found we had misinterpreted timber demand in the 1997 planning process. So the Tongass asked the Pacific Northwest Research Station to complete a new timber demand analysis. A draft of their new study is now available. It certainly is a very complex topic, especially in these times of rapid change and global markets.