00HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 49                                                                                         
01 Relating to opposition to a moratorium on the building of roads in the roadless                                         
02 areas of national forests.                                                                                              
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                              
04  WHEREAS the Clinton Administration has directed the United States Department of                                      
05 Agriculture to implement an interim policy regarding roadless areas in national forests that                            
06 would place a two-year moratorium on the building of roads in those roadless areas; and                                 
07  WHEREAS the application of such a moratorium would be especially inappropriate                                       
08 on the Tongass National Forest as that forest has recently completed a revision of the Tongass                          
09 Land Management Plan at a cost to taxpayers exceeding $13,000,000; and                                                  
10  WHEREAS, after an extensive public process, the Tongass Land Management Plan                                         
11 has already considered the management of roadless areas on the Tongass National Forest; and                             
12  WHEREAS, under the Tongass Land Management Plan, the United States Department                                        
13 of Agriculture, Forest Service, plans to offer an average of only $200,000,000 board feet of                            
14 timber annually, which is far below the level needed for the timber industry that remains in                            

01 the area; and                                                                                                           
02  WHEREAS the proposed moratorium could eliminate the timber industry that remains                                     
03 in Southeast Alaska by further reducing the commercial forest lands available for harvest on                            
04 the Tongass National Forest; and                                                                                        
05  WHEREAS application of the proposed moratorium in the state also violates the spirit                                 
06 of the "no more" provision of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act                                       
07 (ANILCA), which prohibits federal agencies from establishing new wilderness areas in the                                
08 state without an act of Congress;                                                                                       
09  BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature opposes any moratorium on the                                       
10 development of the roadless areas of national forests that overrides the forest planning process                        
11 provided for by the National Forest Management Act, which allows full public participation                              
12 in decisions affecting the multiple use of national forest lands; and be it                                             
13  FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature particularly objects to the                                       
14 imposition of an interim policy that includes a moratorium on the development of roadless                               
15 areas on the Tongass National Forest that would result in any reduction in the commercial                               
16 forest lands available for harvest beyond the restriction embodied in the current Tongass Land                          
17 Management Plan.                                                                                                        
18  COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Bill Clinton, President of the                              
19 United States; the Honorable Al Gore, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and President                            
20 of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Dan Glickman, Secretary of Agriculture; and to the                                    
21 Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the                                         
22 Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.