101st Congress > Senate > Vote 428
Clerk session vote number: 116
Description: An Act to amend the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, to protect certain lands in the Tongass National Forest in perpetuity, to modify certain long-term timber contracts, to provide for protection of riparian habitat, and for other purposes.
Bill summary: Tongass Timber Reform Act -
Title I: Forest Management Provisions
- Amends the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act to require the Secretary of Agriculture to seek to provide a supply of timber from the Tongass National Forest in Alaska which meets: (1) the annual market demand for timber from such forest; and (2) the market demand from such forest for each planning cycle.
Declares that specified factors to be considered by the Secretary in the development of land management plans
(...show more)
under the National Forest Management Act of 1976 shall apply to the Tongass National Forest, except economic factors in the identification of lands not suited for timber production.
Requires the Secretary, in order to preserve riparian habitats, to maintain buffer zones around all Class I streams (and class II streams that flow directly into a class I stream) in the Forest where commercial timber harvesting shall be prohibited. Exempts specified timber sales from this prohibition.
Directs the Secretary to report to the Congress on the need, if any, to standardize riparian management practices for Federal, State, and private lands within the Forest.
Amends the National Forest Management Act of 1976 to include National Forest System lands in Alaska within the Small Business Administration's set-aside program under which small business timber purchasers may elect to have the Forest Service build the necessary logging roads on awarded timber sales. Requires the Secretary to provide a supply of timber from the Forest which meets the demands of qualified small business purchasers.
Exempts from such provisions the purchase of timber within the Forest under the long-term timber sale contracts between the United States and the Alaska Pulp Corporation and the Ketchikan Pulp Company.
Declares that the Secretary shall not: (1) construct a vehicular access road connecting the Indian River and Game Creek roads; or (2) engage in any further efforts to connect the city of Tenakee Springs with the logging road system on Chichagof Island unless the Tenakee Springs and Hoonah city councils tell the Secretary a connecting road should be built.
Title II: Tongass National Forest Lands Protection
- Amends the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act to allocate certain lands within the Tongass National Forest to Land Use Designation II management (in a roadless state, retaining wildland character, but permitting wildlife and fish habitat improvement and primitive recreational facility development).
Designates the following lands within the Tongass National Forest as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System: (1) Pleasant/Lemusurier/Inian Islands Wilderness; (2) Young Lake Addition (to be managed as a part of the Admiralty Island National Monument and the Kootznoowoo Wilderness); (3) South Etolin Wilderness; (4) Chuck River Wilderness; (5) Karta River Wilderness; and (6) Kuiu Wilderness. Requires the Secretary to report to specified congressional committees on the Kadashan LUD II Management Area with regard to: (1) its fish and wildlife resources; and (2) the need for and alternatives to a road through the Kadashan river valley.
Title III: Modification of Long-Term Timber Sale Contracts in Southeast Alaska
- Directs the Secretary to make certain modifications to long-term timber sale contracts between the United States and the Alaska Pulp Corporation and the Ketchikan Pulp Company to assure that the public resources of the Forest are protected and competition within the southeast Alaska timber industry is promoted.
Requires the Secretary to report to specified congressional committees on: (1) an assessment as to whether providing the volume of timber under such modified contracts is inconsistent with other multiple uses of the Forest; and (2) the potential impacts of eliminating the two contract areas.
Title IV: Haida Land Exchange Act Amendment
- Amends the Haida Land Exchange Act of 1986 to withdraw certain lands in Alaska (known as Sulzer frontage lands) from appropriation under the public laws, including the mining and mineral leasing laws, and from selection under the Alaska Statehood Act, as amended. Authorizes for a one-year period the Haida Corporation to select lands from among those lands withdrawn.
Title V: Miscellaneous Provisions
- Requires the Secretary to report to specified congressional committees on the feasibility of acquiring private lands, which have been significantly harvested, within the boundary of the Tongass National Forest.
Directs the Secretary to engage in expedited negotiations during this period with Shee Atika, Inc., Atikon Inc., and Sealaska for independent voluntary exchange agreements through which the United States would acquire all of the surface estate or all of the surface and subsurface estates held by such private parties in the Lake Florence, Lake Kathleen, and Wards Creek drainages of Admiralty Islands. Makes acquisition of the Lake Florence drainage the first priority of such negotiations.
Click to hide full description.
Bill titles: To amend the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, to designate certain lands in the Tongass National Forest as wilderness, and for other purposes.; An Act to amend the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, to protect certain lands in the Tongass National Forest in perpetuity, to modify certain long-term timber contracts, to provide for protection of riparian habitat, and for other purposes.
Original source documents: Digest of the Congressional Record vol. 136, p. 7870;
Links for more info on the vote: congress.gov
