PETERSBURG, ALASKA <br />
The state has played a significant role in the roundtable, which includes government, timber industry, environmental and Native organizations.<br />
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But that&rsquo;s about to end.<br />
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&quot;The organization hasn&rsquo;t been able to come to grips with the timber management issues in the Tongass National Forest, mainly supply issues for the communities and mills in Southeast Alaska,&quot; says State Forester Chris Maisch.<br />
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He has been a leader of the collaborative group. But he says it&rsquo;s clear it&rsquo;s not going to do what the state wants, which is to help the timber industry grow.<br />
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&quot;We&rsquo;ve spent about five years working through the <a href="http://www.tongassfutures.net/">Tongass Futures Roundtable</a> on a much larger organization with more diverse interests and just not have been able to move forward. Focusing it a little more narrowly will hopefully give us some focus on some proposals that will hopefully make a difference,&quot; he says.<br />
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The governor just announced formation of <a href="http://www.gov.state.ak.us/admin-orders/258.html">the Alaska Timber Jobs Task Force</a>. It will look for new logging lands to add to the Southeast State Forest, which is managed for harvests. And it will work with the federal government on its timber sales.<br />
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&quot;This is obviously still a partnership to try to come up with some different approaches to how the state can manage its lands and suggestions on how to continue implementing the 2008 Tongass Land Management Plan,&quot; he says.<br />
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The task force will include the Forest Service, three state agency representatives, three people from the forest products industry and one community representative. It will not involve environmental groups.<br />
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Juneau Mayor Bruce Botelho has moderated roundtable meetings. He says Parnell&rsquo;s decision is going to hurt the group.<br />
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&quot;The state participants, particularly from the Departments of Natural Resources and Fish and Game, have been very positive and active players in the roundtable and their absence is going to be a great detriment to the goals the roundtable has had for itself since its inception,&quot; he says.<br />
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Those goals include balancing land use in the Tongass. Some roundtable members have tried to agree on a mix of logging and conservation. That&rsquo;s led to negotiations and some groups backing away from lawsuits.<br />
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But other members have continued going to court to block timber sales. At the most recent meeting, in February in Juneau, some logging supporters threatened to leave. <br />
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Botelho says without the state, the roundtable may have to reconsider its role.<br />
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&quot;I suspect that its decision to withdraw will accelerate other organizations making the same decision. In which case, the roundtable function, that is a convening of stakeholders, certainly is diminished in its capacity to problem solve,&quot; he says.<br />
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&quot;I&rsquo;m not mad at the roundtable but I need to do something else with what little budget we have and what little time we have left,&quot; says Owen Graham.<br />
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He heads up the Alaska Forest Association, a Ketchikan-based industry group. He says it will shift its collaborative efforts from the roundtable to the new task force.<br />
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&quot;I think the state government will probably have more success explaining the need for an increased timber supply. They&rsquo;ll also be in a better position than the industry is to deal with a lot of things that block the timber sales the Forest Service does prepare — like helping them complete their environmental impact statements and mark their roads and do their demand studies, those kind of things,&quot; he says.<br />
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&quot;I'm disappointed that they aren&rsquo;t going to stay in the roundtable and I was optimistic that we could come to common ground on forest management issues in Southeast,&quot; says Karen Hardigg.<br />
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She works for the Alaska office of the Wilderness Society. She says this is an important time for the state and the industry to continue engaging with others involved in the Tongass.<br />
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&quot;I think the Forest Service has laid out a compelling vision for the future of forest management on the Tongass that will meet ecological needs, economic needs and community needs. It will provide a supply of timber that may look different than it has in the past, but the vision they&rsquo;ve put forward is something that will meet a lot of the shared goals, particularly interest in transitioning to young growth and restoration,&quot; she says.<br />
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The governor&rsquo;s timber task force will begin meeting soon. It&rsquo;s charged with producing a draft report by the end of July.<br />
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State forester Chris Maisch says the roundtable still has a future.<br />
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&quot;There are other issues the roundtable was addressing, about the economy of Southeast and Native issues. So there are a number of topics the roundtable could potentially make progress on. However, timber was not one of the areas we felt there would be any future progress made on.&quot;<br />
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He says a state representative will attend the next meeting to explain its decision to leave. The meeting is May 16th through 18th in Hydaburg.
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