HB 373: "An Act relating to forests and forestry practices."
00HOUSE BILL NO. 373 01 "An Act relating to forests and forestry practices." 02 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 03 * Section 1. AS 41.17.116(a) is amended to read: 04 (a) Private forest land adjacent to the following types of waters and located in 05 a coastal forest of spruce or hemlock is subject to the riparian protection standards 06 established in this section: 07 (1) along a Type A water body, 08 (A) timber operations within 100 feet of the stream or to the 09 break of the slope, whichever area is smaller, shall be conducted in 10 compliance with slope stability standards established in regulations 11 adopted under this chapter; and 12 (B) harvest of timber may not be undertaken within 66 feet of 13 the water body; 14 (2) along a Type B water body,
01 (A) timber [HARVEST] operations within 100 feet of the 02 stream or to the break of the slope, whichever area is smaller, shall be 03 conducted in compliance with slope stability standards established in 04 regulations adopted under this chapter; and 05 (B) harvest of timber may not be undertaken within 66 feet 06 of the water body or to the break of the slope, whichever area is smaller; 07 (3) along a Type C water body, 08 (A) timber [HARVEST] operations within 100 feet of the 09 stream or to the break of the slope, whichever area is smaller, shall be 10 conducted in compliance with the slope stability standards established in 11 regulations adopted under this chapter; and 12 (B) the operator shall, where prudent, retain low value 13 timber within 25 feet of the stream or to the limit of the area described in 14 (A) of this paragraph, whichever area is greater, where the width of the 15 water body is 16 (i) greater than 13 feet at ordinary high water; or 17 (ii) greater than eight feet at ordinary high water if 18 the channel is incised; 19 (4) along a Type D water body, 20 (A) timber operations in the area within 50 feet of the stream 21 or to the break of the slope, whichever area is smaller, shall be conducted in 22 compliance with slope stability standards established in regulations adopted 23 under this chapter ; and 24 (B) the operator shall, where prudent, retain low value 25 timber within 25 feet of the stream or to the limit of the area described in 26 (A) of this paragraph, whichever area is greater, where the width of the 27 water body is 28 (i) greater than 13 feet at ordinary high water; or 29 (ii) greater than eight feet at ordinary high water if 30 the channel is incised . 31 * Sec. 2. AS 41.17.116 is amended by adding a new subsection to read:
01 (c) In this section, 02 (1) "low value timber" means timber that the owner or operator 03 determines, at the time of harvest, to be uneconomic to harvest and market; 04 (2) "prudent" means that the requirement can be met using reasonably 05 available means or technology, that complying with the requirement is not likely to 06 create significant impairment of the productivity of the land and water, and that the 07 cost of achieving the requirement is not out of proportion to the benefits that can 08 reasonably be expected to be achieved in the particular situation. 09 * Sec. 3. AS 41.17.950(20) is amended to read: 10 (20) "Type B water body" means an anadromous water body that does 11 not meet the definition of a Type A water body [IS A FISH STREAM OR RIVER 12 OF ANY SIZE HAVING AN AVERAGE GRADIENT OF EIGHT PERCENT OR 13 LESS, A CHANNEL THAT IS INCISED AND CONTAINED BY THE 14 GEOMORPHOLOGY AND NOT BY VEGETATION, AND A SUBSTRATE THAT 15 RANGES FROM RUBBLE TO BEDROCK]; and 16 * Sec. 4. AS 41.17.950(21) is amended to read: 17 (21) "Type C water body" means a water body [STREAM] that is not 18 [TRIBUTARY TO] anadromous , [WATERS AND] that is a tributary to a Type A 19 or Type B water body, and that has a gradient of 12 percent or less [INCISED 20 GREATER THAN 28 DEGREES, HAS AN AVERAGE GRADIENT OF GREATER 21 THAN EIGHT PERCENT, IS NARROWER THAN 20 FEET BETWEEN 22 ORDINARY HIGH WATER MARKS, HAS A SUBSTRATE OF RUBBLE AND 23 BEDROCK, AND IS A MOUNTAIN SLOPE STREAM AT THE UPPER END OF 24 THE WATERSHED]. 25 * Sec. 5. AS 41.17.950 is amended by adding a new paragraph to read: 26 (22) "Type D water body" means a stream that is tributary to a Type 27 A or Type B water body and that has a gradient greater than 12 percent.