Tongass National Forest

Record of Decision, Forest Plan, and Final EIS

The Tongass Forest Plan Amendment Record of Decision (ROD) was signed by Alaska Regional Forester Dennis Bschor on January 23, 2008. The Final EIS and Amended Forest Plan were distributed and the Notice of Availability was published in the Federal Register on February 15, 2008. The 90-day administrative appeal period extended through May 15, 2008.

The Forest Service received 15 appeals and comments during the appeal period from several entities. On August 22, 2008, the Forest Service Chief Gail Kimbell upheld Alaska Regional Forester Denny Bschor’s decision on the 2008 Tongass Forest Plan Amendment. Click here to review the Appeal Decision document.

The ROD, Forest Plan, and Final EIS are also available for review below. Please click here to read the cover letter that accompanies these documents.

Record of Decision

Following are copies of the signed Record of Decision and associated maps

Record of Decision PDF (3.30 MB)

Record of Decision Map PDF (7.68 MB)

Timber Adaptive Management Strategy Map PDF (8.41 MB)

Forest Plan

Following are copies of the 2008 Forest Plan. The first link is to a clean version of the 2008 Forest Plan. The second link provides access to versions of the 2008 Forest Plan that show changes that have been made to the current Forest Plan (in “track changes”).

2008 Amended Forest Plan (5.99 MB)

2008 Forest Plan (track changes)

Final EIS

The Final EIS consists of a summary document and two separate volumes. Volume I includes the main text of the EIS. Volume II includes the Final EIS appendices. The two volumes are provided in two formats for your convenience. You can open each volume in its entirety at one time, or, if this is too slow because of the large file sizes, you can open it up in parts (see the below links).

Summary (351 KB)

Entire Final EIS Volume I (31.7 MB)

• Part 1 (Chapters 1 & 2) (3.6 MB)
• Part 2 (Chapter 3 - 1st part) (4.6 MB)
• Part 3 (Chapter 3 cont. to 8) (18.4 MB)

Entire Final EIS Volume II (38.1 MB)

• Part 1 (Appendices A to H) (2.9 MB)
• Part 2 (App. H, Attach. A) (18.9 MB)
• Part 3 (App. H, Attach. A - 2nd part) (17.4 MB)

Maps of each of the alternatives, as well as other reference maps, are provided in the Map Library.