FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 4, 2007

Contact:
Kristina Johnson: (415) 977-5619
David Willett: (202) 675-6698



               Sierra Club Legal Victory Protects Wild Forests
U.S. Forest Service Agrees to Abandon Nine Timber Sales in Tongass National
                                   Forest

Juneau, AK--In a groundbreaking victory for the Sierra Club and other
conservation groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council,
Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, and Earthjustice, the U.S. Forest
Service agreed on Wednesday, April 4, to abandon plans to allow nine large
timber sales in wild areas of Alaska's Tongass National Forest, and not to
offer any new timber sales in Tongass roadless areas until a forest plan
amendment is completed.

"This is a huge win for people who hunt and fish in the Tongass," said
Sierra Club spokesperson Katherine Fuselier. "The court agreed that there
was no need to log these wild, roadless areas. But we need to permanently
protect the Tongass. It's time to treat the crown jewel of our national
forest system as a gift to future generations instead of a giveaway to
special timber interests."

"Millions of Americans have said, again and again, that they want to see
the Tongass protected," said Mark Rorick, head of the Sierra Club's Juneau
group. "That's why we fought so hard for this settlement. These are some of
the best places left after 50 years of industrial-scale logging."

The Tongass National Forest spans 17 million acres in Southeast Alaska and
is the world's largest temperate rainforest. The forest is home to old
growth trees, wolves, bears, salmon, moose, and bald eagles. It is also
home to the biggest timber subsidies in the nation, with American citizens
paying roughly $45 million a year to subsidize logging companies in the
area--mostly by building new, unneeded roads.

Wednesday's settlement stems from a 2005 decision in which the 9th Circuit
Court of Appeals found that the Forest Service grossly exaggerated demand
for Tongass timber and failed to explore options for cutting trees outside
of the forest's pristine roadless areas.

While the Forest Service agreed this week not to allow the nine large
timber sales, the agency is working on a new management plan that, as
proposed, would open these areas and more to future road building. The
Forest Service is accepting public comment on its plan until April 30,
2007.

"The draft Forest Service plan for the Tongass is still fatally flawed,"
said Sierra Club spokesperson Katherine Fuselier. "The Forest Service
basically submitted a new plan that has the same faulty approach as the old
one. It leaves too much land open for logging and not enough for community
uses like hunting, fishing, tourism, and recreation."

The Sierra Club is working to promote a strong and diverse economy that
respects the wildlife, recreation opportunities and natural heritage that
Alaskans and other citizens value--and to permanently end congressional
handouts for logging in the Tongass National Forest, which have cost
taxpayers more than $1 billion since 1982. For more information on the
Tongass visit:  http://www.sierraclub.org/forests/

---------------------------------------------------------


Tongass National Forest Litigation Settlement Agreement Background
Information
Contact: Tom Waldo, Earthjustice (907) 586-2751

Background:  Starting in December 2003, several conservation organizations
and one Alaska Native tribal government filed a series of four separate
lawsuits challenging the Tongass Land Management Plan based on a
substantial error in determining how much land should be made available for
logging.  On August 5, 2005, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down
the plan, finding that the Forest Service mistakenly doubled the volume of
timber needed to supply local sawmills and, as a result, failed to examine
alternatives that would better protect roadless areas.  The appeals court
sent the case back to the U.S. District Court in Alaska to determine any
interim logging that should be allowed during the time it takes for the
Forest Service to correct its errors and adopt a new plan.  The parties
entered into lengthy negotiations regarding the issue of interim logging,
culminating in today's settlement agreement.

Parties:  All parties to the four lawsuits joined in the settlement
agreement.
They are:

Plaintiffs:  Organized Village of Kake, Natural Resources Defense Council,
Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society,
National Audubon Society, Center for Biological Diversity, Tongass
Conservation Society, and Sitka Conservation Society.

Defendants:  U.S. Forest Service and various agency officials.

Intervenors:  State of Alaska and Alaska Forest Association.

What the settlement does:
1.  The Forest Service will not offer any new timber sales in Tongass
roadless areas or on Kuiu Island (the ancestral home of members of the
Organized Village of Kake) until the forest plan is completed.
2.  The Forest Service will not sign any new decision documents authorizing
future timber sales in roadless areas or on Kuiu Island until the forest
plan is completed.
3.  The Forest Service will withdraw the following timber sale decisions
previously authorized in roadless areas and on Kuiu Island:  Emerald Bay,
Cholmondeley (except specified helicopter units), Finger Mountain,
Northwest Baranof, Canal Hoya, Crane and Rowan Mountain, Woodpecker 2003,
Madan, and portions of Chasina.
4.  The logging companies may complete timber sale contracts already
entered.  None of these timber sales are on Kuiu Island or in roadless
areas protected by the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule.

Effect of the litigation and settlement:  As a result of this litigation
and settlement, the Tongass timber sale program has shifted from one
focused on construction of expensive new roads and clearcuts in roadless
areas to one located primarily on the existing road system.  For the fiscal
years 2004 to 2007, the Forest Service had planned to offer about 36
roadless area timber sales and to sign about 19 decision documents
approving new multi-sale timber projects in roadless areas.  Under the
settlement, the only timber sales that will proceed in roadless areas
before adoption of a new forest plan are nine specified sales that were
exempt from the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, because they had been
approved before 2001.  By protecting roadless areas and shifting the timber
sale program to the existing road system, the settlement agreement provides
an opportunity for the Forest Service to adopt a new plan that recognizes
the greatly reduced demand for logging in the Tongass, cuts taxpayer
losses, and protects the remaining wild, natural areas of the forest.

What's next:  The Forest Service has released a new draft forest plan for
public review.  Unfortunately, the agency's "proposed action" is an attempt
to revert to the timber sale programs of the past.  It would allow logging
at a level about six times the current demand, located overwhelmingly in
roadless areas valued for hunting, fishing, tourism, recreation, and
wildlife.  Comments on the plan are due April 30, 2007.  The agency expects
to adopt a final plan later this year.

###

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
To unsubscribe from the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to:
[log in to unmask]

Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information:
http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp

To view the Sierra Club List Terms & Conditions, see:
 http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/terms.asp