174 



Southeast Alaska Conservation Counci 



SEACC • P.O. Box 021692 • Juneau. Alaska 99802 



(9 



(907-586-694: 



Washington. DC Offu. 

 cJo National Audubon Soae 

 801 Pennsylvania Avenue, S . 



Washington. DC 2001 

 1202-547-014 



MEMORANDUM 



TO: Bart Koehler, Executive Director 

 FR: John Sisk, Consulting Forester 



RE: Point-by-point Critique of Forest Service's AMS Summary, "Understanding the Past . . 

 Designing the Future" 



PART 1: PAGE SPECIFIC COMMENTS 



Page 9 



The Forest Service misquoted Marylyn Conley, a SEACC board member from Ketchikan. The 

 quote attributed to Marylyn was made up by agency planners in Juneau and assigned to Mrs. 

 Conley in the publication, which was sent to over 20,000 southeast Alaska residents. Marylyn 

 had formally rejected the manufactured quote in a signed release statement and had, instead, 

 presented a very different, authentic quote in her own words. Additionally, SEACC members 

 and staff specifically reprimanded the Forest Service for attempting to concoct such bogus 

 "public" quotes back in August of 1989. The Forest Service approach to public participation, 

 and the outcome, are cause for concern. 



Page 14 



The history section of the document is notable in its omission of all historical events that do 

 not support the current Forest Service timber program. A few examples illustrate the point. 



1) There is no mention of the 1981 federal court ruling that the two Tongass pulp mills 

 conspired to restrain and monopolize trade, and to reduce competition from Alaskan 

 and out-of-state timber operators. Court documents revealed that 102 independent 

 logging and milling companies had been "forced to bankruptcy, acquired, or otherwise 

 driven from the logging business by the defendants [Ketchikan Pulp Company and 

 Alaska Lumber and Pulp, now Alaska Pulp Corporation]." 



2) The history section also ignores the fact that in the 1980s fourteen southeast Alaskan 

 communities expressed formal opposition to the timber supply program set forth in 

 section 705 of the Alaska Lands Act. 



3) The Forest Service document ignores the fact that the support for lands protection, via 

 wilderness designation or some other mechanism, is a result of local and regional 

 interest, not some vague national trend. The concept of permanent lands protection is 

 endorsed by the Governor of Alaska, Sealaska Corporation, many local communities, 

 commercial fishing organizations, and SEACC. 



PELICAN FORESTRY COUNCIL • FRIENDS OF BERNERS BAT, Juneau * URANGELL RESOURCE COUNCIL * SITICA CONSERVATION SOCIETY 



FALSE ISLANOKOOC LAKE COUNCIL, Tenakee Springs • LYNN CANAL CONSERVATION, Haines * TAKU CONSERVATION SOCIETY, Juneau 



NARROWS CONSERVATION COALITION, Petersburg • FRIENDS OF GLACIER BAY, Gustavus * TONGASS CONSERVATION SOCIETY, Ketchikan 



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