00SENATE CS FOR CS FOR SS FOR HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 49(RES)                                                        
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 establish an interim policy regarding roadless areas in national forests; and                            
06  WHEREAS the United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, is                                              
07 considering a proposed two-year moratorium on the building of roads in those roadless areas;                            
08 and                                                                                                                     
09  WHEREAS the National Forest Management Act of 1976 requires that amendments                                          
10 to a forest plan be done in accordance with regulations that, among other things, allow the                             
11 public to participate in the development, review, and revision of land management plans for                             
12 national forests such as the Tongass National Forest and the Chugach National Forest; and                               
13  WHEREAS the Chugach National Forest land management plan revision was initiated                                      
14 in April of 1997, and this plan revision process is the appropriate venue for addressing road                           

01 building and roadless area issues in the Chugach National Forest; and                                                   
02  WHEREAS, after an extensive public process, the Tongass Land Management Plan                                         
03 has already considered the management of roadless areas on the Tongass National Forest; and                             
04  WHEREAS the application of such a moratorium to the Tongass National Forest                                          
05 would be a unilateral amendment to the Tongass Land Management Plan, which the Forest                                   
06 Service has just revised at a cost to taxpayers exceeding $13,000,000; and                                              
07  WHEREAS, under the Tongass Land Management Plan, the United States Department                                        
08 of Agriculture, Forest Service, plans to offer an average of only 200,000,000 board feet of                             
09 timber annually, which is far below the 300,000,000 board feet needed for the timber industry                           
10 as determined by the Governor's Timber Task Force; and                                                                  
11  WHEREAS the proposed moratorium could eliminate the timber industry that remains                                     
12 in Southeast Alaska by reducing the allowable sale quantity on the Tongass National Forest                              
13 to nearly zero; and                                                                                                     
14  WHEREAS application of the proposed moratorium in the state also violates the spirit                                 
15 of the "no more" provision of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act                                       
16 (ANILCA), which prohibits federal agencies from establishing new wilderness areas in the                                
17 state without an act of Congress;                                                                                       
18  BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature opposes any moratorium on the                                       
19 development of the roadless areas of national forests that overrides the forest planning process                        
20 provided for by the National Forest Management Act of 1976, which allows full public                                    
21 participation in decisions affecting the multiple use of national forest lands; and be it                               
22  FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature opposes any moratorium,                                           
23 restriction, or unilateral amendment to the Tongass Land Management Plan and the Chugach                                
24 Land Management Plan that overrides the forest planning process required by the National                                
25 Forest Management Act of 1976, which allows full public participation in decisions affecting                            
26 the multiple use of national forest lands.                                                                              
27  COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Bill Clinton, President of the                              
28 United States; the Honorable Al Gore, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and President                            
29 of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Dan Glickman, Secretary of Agriculture; and to the                                    
30 Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the                                         
31 Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.