00                 CS FOR HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 6(RES)                                                               
01 Relating to opposition to the inclusion of national forests in Alaska within former                                     
02 President Clinton's Roadless Area Conservation rule and supporting the overturning of                                   
03 this inclusion by litigation, by congressional action, or by action of President Bush.                                  
04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
05       WHEREAS the forest products industry has been and continues to be an important                                  
06 economic sector in Alaska that contributes significant employment income to the economy of                              
07 the state, and, through purchases of timber from National Forest System lands, contributes                              
08 significant revenue to local communities through the 25 percent revenue sharing provisions of                           
09 federal law; and                                                                                                        
10       WHEREAS the Roadless Area Conservation rule is contrary to the land management                                  
11 planning process for individual forests established by the National Forest Management Act of                            
12 1976 and its implementing regulations; and                                                                              
13       WHEREAS application of the Roadless Area Conservation rule to the Tongass and                                   
14 Chugach National Forests designates significant additional acreage as administrative, de facto                          
15 wilderness areas within Alaska; and                                                                                     

01       WHEREAS application of the Roadless Area Conservation rule in Alaska is contrary                                
02 to sec. 708(b)(4), Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), which                                      
03 specifically prohibits another roadless area review and evaluation (RARE) on national forest                            
04 lands in Alaska for the purpose of setting aside commercial forest land as wilderness; and                              
05       WHEREAS application of the Roadless Area Conservation rule in Alaska is contrary                                
06 to sec. 1326(a) of ANILCA, which prohibits the withdrawal of more than 5,000 acres, in the                              
07 aggregate, of public lands within Alaska without the consent of the Congress; and                                       
08       WHEREAS application of the Roadless Area Conservation rule in Alaska is contrary                                
09 to sec. 1326(b) of ANILCA, which expressly prohibits studies of public lands for the purpose                            
10 of considering the establishment of new conservation system units, recreation areas, national                           
11 conservation areas, or for related or similar purposes; and                                                             
12       WHEREAS the Tongass Timber Reform Act of 1990 and other Congressional and                                       
13 administrative actions have withdrawn more than 97 percent of the Tongass National Forest                               
14 from availability for timber harvest and other resource development opportunities; and                                  
15       WHEREAS the 1997 and 1999 revisions of the Tongass Land Management Plan                                         
16 (TLMP) further reduced the available commercial forest lands in the Tongass to 576,000                                  
17 acres out of nearly 6,000,000 suitable acres across the forest; and                                                     
18       WHEREAS the available commercial forest lands remaining after the 1999 TLMP                                     
19 amendments are insufficient to satisfy the raw material needs of Southeast Alaska's forest                              
20 products manufacturing industry, given the plan's maximum annual economic offering level                                
21 of 153,000,000 board feet; and                                                                                          
22       WHEREAS, by applying the roadless policy to the Tongass, the federal government                                 
23 has further reduced the available commercial forest lands in the Tongass to less than half the                          
24 currently available acreage and will further reduce the maximum annual offering level to less                           
25 than 50,000,000 board feet; and                                                                                         
26       WHEREAS application of the Roadless Area Conservation rule to the Tongass,                                      
27 together with Under Secretary Lyons' 1999 unilateral TLMP amendment, nullifies the results                              
28 of the United States Forest Service's 1986-1997 planning process in the Tongass, which cost                             
29 the taxpayers more than $13,000,000; and                                                                                
30       WHEREAS application of the Roadless Area Conservation rule to the Tongass,                                      
31 together with Under Secretary Lyons' 1999 unilateral TLMP amendment, will further                                       

01 destabilize the already unstable timber-based economy of Southeast Alaska by forcing the                                
02 closure of most of the remaining forest products manufacturing facilities, resulting in loss of                         
03 employment and associated negative socioeconomic impacts within timber-dependent                                        
04 communities and the Southeast Alaska region; and                                                                        
05       WHEREAS the Chugach National Forest has spent three years and several million                                   
06 dollars conducting a revision to its land management plan and is within a few months of                                 
07 issuing the Final Environmental Impact Statement for that plan; and                                                     
08       WHEREAS a wide range of interests from the Alaska public has been involved in the                               
09 Chugach land management planning process, working to develop a range of plan alternatives                               
10 that respond to the public's interests, needs, and concerns, and the Roadless Area                                      
11 Conservation rule will render that involvement and expense pointless and undermine public                               
12 confidence in the planning process; and                                                                                 
13       WHEREAS the public, through the Chugach Land Management Plan revision                                           
14 scoping process, has expressed deep concern that the approximately 130,000 acres of the                                 
15 Chugach National Forest suffering from spruce bark beetle damage must be managed for the                                
16 restoration of a green, healthy forest, and the Roadless Area Conservation rule prevents access                         
17 required by land managers to accomplish that restoration work; and                                                      
18       WHEREAS application of the Roadless Area Conservation rule will render it                                       
19 virtually impossible for inholders and adjacent landowners, particularly families and small                             
20 business owners, to obtain the access to their property that was promised them in ANILCA;                               
21       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature strongly opposes the Roadless                                  
22 Area Conservation rule, and particularly opposes the illegal inclusion of the Tongass and                               
23 Chugach National Forests in the Roadless Area Conservation rule; and be it                                              
24       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature fully supports Governor                                      
25 Knowles' decision to litigate against the application of the Roadless Area Conservation rule to                         
26 National Forest System lands in Alaska; and be it                                                                       
27       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges members of the                                         
28 Alaska delegation in Congress to use all available means to set aside the Roadless Area                                 
29 Conservation rule through Congressional action; and be it                                                               
30       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges President George                                       
31 W. Bush to overturn the classification and inclusion of the national forests located inside                             

01 Alaska's boundaries.                                                                                                    
02       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable George W. Bush, President                              
03 of the United States; the Honorable Ann Veneman, United States Secretary of Agriculture;                                
04 Mike Dombeck, Chief of the United States Forest Service, United States Department of                                    
05 Agriculture; and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S.                                   
06 Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska                                       
07 delegation in Congress.