Class II streams
In order to assure protection of riparian habitat, the Secretary shall maintain a buffer zone of no less than one hundred feet in width on each side of all Class I streams in the Tongass National Forest, and on those Class II streams which flow directly into a Class I stream, within which commercial timber harvesting shall be prohibited, except where independent national forest timber sales have already been sold prior to March 1, 1990 , or where volume has been released prior to March 1, 1990 , to either the Alaska Pulp Corporation or the Ketchikan Pulp Company pursuant to the long-term timber sale contracts numbered 12–11–010–1545 and A10fs–1042 respectively. If such an independent timber sale or released volume is within the buffer zone, the Secretary shall make every effort to relocate such independent sale or released volume to an area outside of the buffer zone. The Secretary shall use best management practices, as defined in the Region 10 Soil and Water Conservation handbook (FSH 2509.22), January 1990, to assure the protection of riparian habitat on streams or portions of streams not protected by such buffer zones. For the purposes of this subsection, the terms “Class I streams” and “Class II streams” mean the same as they do in the Region 10 Aquatic Habitat Management Handbook (FSH 2609.24), June 1986.