Alaska § 41.17.230 - Management plans.

§ 41.17.230. Management plans.

 (a) The commissioner shall prepare a forest management plan consistent with AS 38.04.005 and this chapter for each state forest and for each unit of a state forest to assist in meeting the requirements of this chapter. An operational level forest inventory shall be completed before a forest management plan for the state forest or the unit of a state forest is adopted. The forest management plan shall be adopted, implemented, and maintained within three years of the establishment of a state forest by the legislature. To the extent they are found to be compatible with the primary purpose of state forests under AS 41.17.200 , the forest management plan must consider and permit uses of forest land for other purposes, including a carbon offset project under AS 38.95.400 — 38.95.499, recreation, tourism, mining, mineral exploration, mineral leasing, material extraction, consumptive and nonconsumptive uses of wildlife and fish, grazing and other agricultural activities, and other traditional uses. If the commissioner finds that a permitted use is incompatible with one or more other uses in a portion of a state forest, the commissioner shall affirmatively state in the management plan that finding of incompatibility for the specific area where the incompatibility is anticipated to exist and the time period when the incompatibility is anticipated to exist together with the reasons and benefits for each finding.

 (b) The commissioner shall review and revise a forest management plan when necessary.

 (c) A management plan may not be adopted or revised after the establishment of the state forest without prior review by the Board of Forestry and by other appropriate state agencies or without prior public hearings held in a community proximately located to the state forest or to a unit of a state forest.

 (d) [Repealed, § 16 ch 153 SLA 2003.]  (e) [Repealed, § 34 ch 34 SLA 1990.]  (f) [Repealed, § 34 ch 34 SLA 1990.]  (g) A carbon offset project undertaken under AS 38.95.400 — 38.95.499 within a state forest must be consistent with the applicable forest management plan, and the applicable forest management plan must identify the land appropriate for the carbon offset project. The department may amend a forest management plan to allow for a carbon offset project.

Article 5. State Land Reforestation.