The state recently adopted a five-year forest management schedule for the Haines State Forest that’s outdated and out of step with what’s needed for the Chilkat Valley’s ecosystem and the planet. Proposed large scale industrial clear-cut logging of the Chilkat Ridge from the lake to the river for round log export to Asian markets harkens back to the heyday of timber harvest in the 1960s and 70s, which resulted in habitat destruction, scenic degradation, landslides and corporate welfare.
We now know a better and more sustainable way to manage forests, but our state bureaucracy regulating forest management is living in the past. Trees are the lungs of the earth. They take carbon above and below ground through an intricate system of biomass and myocardial fungi. If animals, including humans, are to continue to inhabit this planet, old growth forests, which take up the most carbon, must be left as living trees to combat global warming.
The Haines State Forest Management Plan is 22 years old and still focuses on timber harvest as its primary resource use. It’s past due time for an update that prioritizes small-scale selective timber harvest for local use and value-added products made in the Chilkat Valley. After administrative costs, road, bridge, and culvert construction to access these timber sales, the state makes pennies on the dollar, if not a loss, on our public forest. The value of these trees left standing far outweighs their shipment overseas as unprocessed timber to be made into cardboard boxes.
Thom Ely