Pacific Temperate Rain Forest (WWF Ecoregion) - Logging

Logging

Pacific temperate rain forests have been subject to ongoing large-scale industrial logging since the end of the Second World War, cutting over half of their total area. In California, only 4% of the redwoods have been protected. In Oregon and Washington, less than 10% of the original coastal rain forest area remains.

An even larger percentage of the productive forest has been logged. Much of the land is rock, ice, muskeg, or less productive forest on steep slopes. The stereotypical old growth is limited to lowland flats and valleys, which have been preferentially targeted for logging. Historically, the most common protocol has been to place protected areas in the mountains, leaving the valleys to the timber industry. So while some very large areas are protected as parks and monuments, very little of the highest-value habitat has been protected, and much of it has already been cut.

In the Tongass National Forest, in the 1950s, in part to aid in Japanese recovery from World War II, the US Forest Service set up long term contracts with two pulp mills: the Ketchikan Pulp Company (KPC) and the Alaska Pulp Company (APC). These contracts were for 50 years, and divided up the forest into areas slated for APC logs and areas slated for KPC logs. These two companies conspired to drive log prices down, conspired to drive smaller logging operations out of business, and were major and recalcitrant polluters of their local areas. These long term contracts guaranteed low prices to the pulp companies — in some cases resulting in trees being given away for less than the price of a hamburger. Since 1980, the US Forest Service has lost over a billion dollars in Tongass timber sales.

Half a million acres (2,000 km²) of the Tongass was selected by native corporations under the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. Much of this area has been clearcut.

The most controversial timber sales in the Tongass are in the roadless areas. In September 2006, a landmark court decision overturned President George W. Bush's repeal of the Roadless Rule, reverting to the 2001 roadless area protections established under President Clinton. (The Clinton Administration had declined to adopt the rule during its eight years, waiting until after the 2000 elections and until only days were remaining in the administration, then adopting the rule both to improve environmental protection, and also to create unfavorable publicity for the following administration of the opposition party when elements of the weeks-old policy were modified or removed.) However, the Tongass was exempted from that ruling and it is unclear what the fate of its vast roadless areas will be.