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Ketchikan-Misty Fiords Ranger District

Outfitter and Guide Management Plan EIS

Project Update

The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for this project was mailed in June and July 2011 to everyone who commented during scoping and other interested individuals, agencies, tribes, corporations, and organizations.  Six agencies or individuals commented on the DEIS.  The IDT used the comments to refine the FEIS and inform the decision.  The comments and the Forest Service responses to these comments are displayed in Appendix A of the FEIS.  Additionally, subsistence hearings about this project were held in August 2011.  No comments specific to the EIS, nor to outfitter and guide management on KMRD, were brought forward in the subsistence hearings.

In January 2012, the Ketchikan-Misty Fiords Ranger District (KMRD), Tongass National Forest completed the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) and Record of Decison (ROD) for the Ketchikan-Misty Fiords Outfitter and Guide Management Plan project. The FEIS displays the four alternatives considered for allocating (distributing) outfitter and guide permits on KMRD including the “no-action” alternative and explains the environmental impacts of each alternative.  The FEIS and ROD for this project have been mailed in the format requested to everyone who commented during the DEIS comment period and other interested individuals, agencies, tribes, corporations, and organizations.

The FEIS analyzed four alternatives for allocating outfitter and guide permits on KMRD including the “no-action” alternative.  The action alternatives (Alternatives B, C, and D) would have allocated between 34,900 and 74,000 service days annually to outfitters and guides for recreational use on National Forest System Lands within KMRD.  The no-action alternative (Alternative A) would have allocated about 24,200 service days to outfitters and guides based on the highest use by area between 2005 and 2009.

The Record of Decision (ROD) documents the District Ranger’s decision to select Alternative B with modifications and the facts considered in reaching the decision.  The Selected Alternative will allocate 50,671 service days annually for outfitter and guide recreational use on National Forest System Lands within the Ketchikan-Misty Fiords Ranger District.  The effective date of implementation for the decision and the Notice of Rights of Appeal are specified in the ROD.

The FEIS and ROD are available on the internet at http://www.fs.fed.us/r10/tongass/projects/nepa_project.shtml?project=32817. Additional copies of the FEIS and ROD are available for review in several formats including electronic and hard copy.  For more information, questions, comments or if you would like to be added to our mailing list, contact Sue Jennings, the project team leader, at the Petersburg Forest Service office at 907-772-5864 during regular business hours, Monday to Friday, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm.
We appreciate the participation of the public and the input we have received throughout this process. 

Alternatives by Recreation Use Areas

The ROD contains a table and maps showing the proposed allocation of recreation use to outfitters and guides by individual recreation use area and the locations of the recreation use areas on KMRD.  Individual Recreation Use Area maps are found in the appendix to the ROD.

Project History

This project began in January, 2009 with a general public meeting at the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center in Ketchikan, Alaska. At the meeting, we introduced the proposed planning process, discussed project goals, and shared recreation use information with the public.

Following the kickoff meeting, KMRD started a District-wide recreation planning process that generally followed the nine-step Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC) planning process. This process involved the public and Forest Service managers in an effort to balance recreation use with resource protection needs.

Many ideas and concerns were raised during the LAC process. The Proposed Action in the DEIS was developed through the LAC process. The NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) process began by providing this Proposed Action to the public in a SCOPING LETTER and a NOTICE OF INTENT TO PREPARE AN EIS. The alternatives to the Proposed Action in the DEIS were developed based on issues raised at the LAC or were brought forward by public comments during NEPA public involvement or by KMRD resource specialists.

For additional information, see the FEIS and read about the project history.

Reference Documents

Several reference documents have been used to reach this point in the analysis and are available for you to look at.

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