Lindenberg Peninsula Mitkof Island Stewardship Project & Workshops
Petersburg Ranger District
Lindenberg Peninsula/Mitkof Island Collaborative Workshops
Project Update
Where we’ve been
The Tonka Environmental Impact Statement and Record of Decision, signed in March 2012, along with information presented and feedback received in the following May, June and July Lindenberg-Mitkof public workshops helped develop the Tonka Stewardship Proposal. From that proposal, the Tonka Integrated Resource Timber Contract (IRTC) was drafted and awarded in September 2012.
Information on the proposal and award process was presented during a September 27, 2012 public meeting. The results of the Tonka IRTC were also shared and discussed among the group. Participants offered positive and negative comments about the proposal and contracting process.
The Tonka Integrated Resource Timber Contract
In September 2012 the Tonka IRTC was awarded for over one million dollars and contains a small amount of contractually-required enhancement activities to be completed with the timber harvest authorized by the Tonka FEIS/ROD. The rationale for the contractually-required enhancement activities included at the time of offer is described in the proposal. Through the use of the agency’s Stewardship Contracting Authority, timber receipts generated from timber resources sold in the Tonka IRTC can be retained for subsequent use on restoration and enhancement activities on the Petersburg Ranger District. As described in the Tonka Stewardship Proposal, the objective is to complete desirable landscape restoration and enhancement actions with the timber receipts, through local business (contractors), to achieve land management goals for National Forest System lands while meeting local and rural community needs.
Based on feedback from the public in previous workshops, there is a specific interest in
1. the continued correction of fisheries passage problems or stream crossings on roads in the form of culverts that do not meet fish passage standards (commonly referred to as red pipes), and
2. the enhancement of deer habitat conditions, altered by past timber harvest activities.
Where we are going
Over the winter and spring, the Petersburg Ranger District intends to pursue the identification and development of projects that meet the objectives highlighted above on the Lindenberg Peninsula of Kupreanof Island and on Mitkof Island. Our goal is to work with local stakeholders and agency specialists to develop additional stewardship proposals to be considered for Integrated Resource Service Contracts (IRSC).
Integrated Resource Service Contracts
IRSCs are service contracts for approved activities funded through retained timber receipts generated from a timber contract, such as the Tonka IRTC. Approved activities are determined by the Stewardship Contracting Authority, which allows the Forest Service to spend retained receipts on a variety of actions while prohibiting others. A list of these activities is contained in the Stewardship Contracting Authority provided here in the FS Handbook 2409.19_60 Stewardship Contracting starting on page 28 of the document. A component of these service contracts will be Best Value Criteria which may include local benefit. Members of the public and interested stakeholders are encouraged to offer feedback on the agency’s criteria to define local benefit. Click here for Best Value Evaluation Criteria from other Stewardship Contracting efforts.
How you can be involved
As the Petersburg District defines and proposes opportunities consistent with the feedback received to date, additional public workshops will be convened to discuss and refine ideas, and to solicit additional suggestions for projects and/or alternatives for implementation on the District. These future workshops will be advertised on the radio and in the newspaper.
We look forward to seeing you there and hearing your ideas
Amended Prescriptions for Tonka IRTC Mandatory Thinning Units:
Tree thinning units on the west side of the Lindenberg Penninsual (Duncan Canal), originally included as mandatory work items in the Tonka IRTC have been provided with updated prescriptions. Based upon further field review this fall with agency specialists and a local stakeholder, the changes reflect site specific conditions and general comments offered at previous workshops regarding the effectiveness of canopy gaps and unthinned corridors within stem excluded young-growth stands. See the attached document which describes these modifications.
Tonka Stewardship Contract - Pre-Commercial Thinning (pdf)
Additional Habitat and Thinning Literature Added:
Various reports and studies referenced and discussed at previous workshops have been posted to the Reference Documents and Web Sites section below. If you’re looking for something that isn’t there, please let us know.
Project History
The Linendberg Peninsula and Mitkof Island Stewardship workshops are a public forum in which to discuss what people want from the Tongass NF lands that most immediately surround them. There is value in discussing the types of outcomes people want to see from their public lands, and learning about the various tools that can help get them there. Managing public lands is a complex process, which poses some challenging questions to which there are no easy answers.Workshops can help participants understand the sociopolitical constraints of the decision-making process and ultimately, the trade-offs being made with each decision. More specifically, this kind of communication effort can help define the types, locations and scale of possible or desirable activities that can take place on the landscape. It can further inform the Forest Service, and the community, on how best to craft projects for maximum local benefit on a trajectory that seeks to implement current policy and public interest. Given the complexity of the situation, the values present and the details involved, it is most likely that multiple workshops will be used to explore possible outcomes.
Historical management activities on the Lindenberg Peninsula and Mitkof Island areas of the Petersburg Ranger District have contributed greatly to the current patterns of public use in these areas. The existing condition of these managed lands and their land use designation in the Tongass Land Management Plan present a wide array of opportunities for public participation in agency land management proposals, as well as the implementation of previously planned projects. Presently, the Forest Service intends to implement the Tonka Timber Sale under the agency’s Stewardship Contracting Authority. This authority and the pending Tonka Stewardship project adds further value to a collaborative discussion with the public about landscape conditions and land management objectives for the Tonka project area and surrounding landscapes. Click here for more information on the Forest Service Stewardship Contracting Authority.
Handouts and Links
- Tonka Stewardship Proposal
- Tonka Stewardship Project Area Map
- Partnership Guide
- Best Value Examples
- FS Handbook 2409.19_60 Stewardship Contracting
Maps
Workshop Agendas & Notes
If you would like to be added to the workshop mailing list please contact Tom Parker at tparker02@fs.fed.us (907) 772-5947
Workshop Schedule
- May 03, 2012
- May 11, 2012
- May 23, 2012
- May 30, 2012 - (postponed until further notice): The Forest Service is working to invite technical specialists from the region to provide presentations regarding upland and aquatic habitat conditions and projects occurring on the Tongass. The intent of these presentations is to help explore past and present activities and associated research, as part of a larger discussion about the types of projects that could or should be proposed for the Mitkof Island and Lindenberg Peninsular landscapes.
- June 28 – Deer Habitat and Young Growth: Presentations from Forest Service on habitat response to forest stand management activities on the Tongass.
- July 12 – Fisheries Economics, Fish Passage and Forest Roads: Presentations from Forest Service fisheries biologists on fisheries management as it relates to roads and fish stream crossings, and economic implications of the Tongass NF on the SE Alaska Fishing Industry
- September 27 – Discussion with agency officials regarding the development of the Tonka Stewardship Proposal and award of the Tonka IRTC
Presentations
- June 28 - Young Growth and Deer Habitat
- July 12 - Fish Passage and Fisheries Economic
- July 12 - Fish Passages across Tongass Forest Roads
Reference Documents & Web Sites
- University of Oregan Insitute For A Sustainable Environment Working Paper Number 25 Summer 2010
- Staney Community Forestry Project
- Sustainable Northwest Best Value & Stewardship Contracting Guidebook
- Lomakatsi Restoration Project
- Influence of PCT on Understory Vegetation
- Alabak Conopy Gap Study Final Report
- Alabak Dynamics of Understory Biomass
- Hanley Young Growth Management for Understory Effects
- Effects of Thinning on Wood Quality in Southeast Alaska
Please visit the Adobe website to download a free version of Adobe Reader.