Alaska Tribe Sues Feds to Stop Logging in Tongass National Forest

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (CN) — Significant amounts of old-growth trees in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest are on the federal chopping block, prompting a Thursday lawsuit from the Ketchikan Indian Community and two environmental groups.

In its authorization of the South Revilla project, the U.S. Forest Service cleared the way for future logging in over 40,000 acres of rainforest — a move that Ketchikan tribe president Gloria Ilsxilee Stáng Burns stated would “threaten the lands, waters, wildlife, and traditional ways of life our people have depended upon for generations.”

Existing federal regulations on timber sales prevent the Forest Service from auctioning off the entirety of that land now, but the agency has said it will produce compliant plans for future sales.

The current plan, referred to as Alternative 2, would harvest over 4,000 acres of old-growth and an additional 1,000 acres of rainforest near Revillagigedo Island, known commonly as Revilla.

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