Summary: The Tongass National Forest in southeast Alaska is unlike any other national forest. It is larger; its administrative and geographic structures differ; and, although it is subject to the same laws that apply to other national forests, it also had laws written specifically for it. Like other national forests, the Tongass is required by law to develop a plan to manage its lands and resources and to revise the plan at least every 15 years. On average, the revision process is estimated to take four years and cost about $3 million. The Forest Service approved the first Tongass forest plan in 1979 and in 1987 the agency began to revise it. Nearly 10 years and more than $13 million later, the Forest Service approved a revised forest plan to manage the Tongass' lands and resources. Interested and affected parties later appealed the plan. In 1999, the Department of Agriculture approved changes to the management direction of the 1997 plan. This report discusses (1) the process used by the Department of Agriculture to modify the management direction of the 1997 plan and decide the appeals on the basis of the modified plan, (2) the reasons the administration chose to use the process, and (3) reactions to the modifications and the process.
