Tongass National Forest

Background

The 1997 Forest Plan conservation strategy was the product of several science based interagency efforts that began in the early 1990s. It is habitat-based and was built upon the latest concepts of the time in conservation biology and landscape ecology. The conservation strategy was developed to meet the requirement of the National Forest Management Act (and the 1982 implementing regulations), which called for maintaining viable, well-distributed wildlife populations through the foreseeable future. A second purpose was to prevent the need to list (under the Endangered Species Act) the Alexander Archipelago wolf and the northern goshawk, which had been petitioned in 1993 and 1994 respectively. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision to not list these species was based in part on the conservation strategy.

Development of the 1997 conservation strategy began with the efforts of an Interagency Viable Population Committee’s (VPOP) proposals, a series of scientific panel efforts, and various responses to each effort by the ongoing Forest Plan NEPA related efforts. The development of NEPA alternatives for the Forest Plan EIS, which each represented various mixes of Land Use Designations (LUDs) and appropriate implementing Standards and Guidelines, were informed and influenced by the ongoing development of the conservation strategy. Some of the key efforts are summarized below to help provide the overall historic context, as well as, links to some of the key documents or related products for development of the 1997 conservation strategy. Note that many of the products also have their own bibliography or reference cited sections that may be of interest. Also provided below is a summary of Forest Plan amendments that have made adjustments to the Old Growth Habitat LUD consistent with the direction of the Forest Plan since 1997.

Conservation Strategy Overview - This document was developed for use in the conservation strategy review and summarizes the development history and the basic design criteria for the strategy.

VPOP - In 1993, the interagency Viable Population Committee (VPOP) proposed a conservation strategy for old-growth associated vertebrates on the Tongass (Suring et al. 1993). This proposal ranked species according to the concern for their viability and well-distributed status and developed conservation strategies for the highest concern species. The VPOP proposal, in combination with its review by the Pacific Northwest Research Station (Kiester and Eckhardt 1994), and the VPOP response (Suring et al. 1994), formed the basis for the application of a coarse and fine filter approach to conservation biology on the Tongass National Forest.

1997 Forest Plan Final EIS - Wildlife species viability and related topics are discussed in the Final EIS on pages 3-380 through 3-429. The Biodiversity section runs from page 3-11 through 3-39.

Appendix N - Appendix N of the 1997 Forest Plan Final EIS summarizes key components of the development of the conservation strategy and how that information was used to finalize and strengthen the Forest Plan and the conservation strategy.

Appendix K - Appendix K outlines the criteria used to delineate small, medium and large reserves.

Forest Plan Management Prescriptions and Standards and Guidelines – Management prescriptions for the old-growth reserve system are found in Chapter 3 of the Forest Plan on pages 3-75 through 3-81. Standards and guidelines for management of the matrix make up an important component of the conservation strategy. These can be found in Chapter 4 of the Forest Plan. Of note are the beach and estuary, riparian, wildlife standards and guidelines.”)

Tongass Forest Plan Implementation Clarification – These are clarification papers developed by an interagency team to assist in the implementation of the Tongass Forest Plan Standards and Guidelines. They include clarifications to the implementation of the conservation strategy such as the small old-growth reserve evaluation process, beach and estuary fringe connectivity standards and guidelines, and marten and goshawk standards and guidelines.

Summary of OGR Amendments - As of September 2003, seventeen Forest Plan amendments have modified small Old Growth Reserves. These adjustments have resulted in over 13,000 acres, including nearly 5,000 acres of productive old-growth (POG), being added to the Old Growth Habitat LUD. See pages 5-7 of the 5 Year Review Determination and the list of Forest Plan Amendments.

Many other relevant background studies and papers were developed subsequent to the 1997 Forest Plan. These include 15 papers recently published in a special issue of the journal Landscape and Urban Planning (Volume 72), titled “Science Contributions to the Development of a Landscape Scale Management Plan, Tongass National Forest, Alaska.”