{{custom_field.photo_credit}}
Photos by Jacob Ritley, Cascadia Wildlands’ Tongass Groundtruth Expedition, 2016. Thanks to LUSH Foundation for their generous support. Southeast Alaska’s Alexander Archipelago is made up of thousands of islands large and small. Small boats and floatplanes are the dominant modes of transportation. Old-growth clearcutting is ongoing this summer on the Big Thorne timber sale, Prince of … Read more
by Alaska Legal Director Gabe Scott [updated 9/8/16] TONGASS NATIONAL FOREST, ALASKA— Lots to report from our ground-truthing trek last week into Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. We spent a week on Wrangell, Revilla and Prince of Wales Islands with colleagues investigating proposed and active old-growth logging projects. This was a trip to the edge of … Read more
April 14, 2016 — Five environmental groups sued the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers today in the federal district court at Anchorage to force supplemental analysis on the environmental consequences of the Ketchikan-to-Shelter-Cove road project on Revillagigedo Island in southeastern Alaska. The project is out for bids, which are due today.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 29, 2016
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Supreme Court today declined to hear a last‐ditch effort by the State of Alaska to exempt America’s largest national forest from a national rule protecting undeveloped, road‐free national forest areas from logging and road construction. The State sought to overturn a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that kept the Roadless Area Conservation Rule in effect in the vast Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska. The Ninth Circuit agreed with a federal District Court in Alaska that the Bush administration improperly exempted the Tongass from that landmark conservation measure.
October 12, 2015 — In a federal court filing last Friday the U.S. Forest Service announced it will withdraw its decision on the Mitkof Island Project, a large 35 million board foot timber sale. The project is in the center of the Tongass National Forest, near the communities of Petersburg and Kupreanof.
August 29, 2015 — In a major victory for America’s last great rainforest, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit struck down a Bush administration exemption of the Tongass National Forest from the “Roadless Rule,” a landmark conservation rule adopted in 2001 to protect nearly 60 million acres of wild national forests and grasslands from new road building and logging. The Court held the Bush administration failed to provide a reasoned explanation for reversing course on the Tongass. It concluded the Roadless Rule “remains in effect and applies to the Tongass.”
Cascadia Wildlands yesterday filed suit against the Forest Service challenging approval of the Mitkof Island timber sale, a 4,117-acre old-growth logging project on the Tongass National Forest, near Petersburg in Southeast Alaska. This lawsuit comes close on the heals of our challenge to the Big Thorne timber sale, another big old-growth sale that is currently on … Read more
by Gabe Scott, Alaska Field Rep. Do you ever get the feeling you’re running in circles? That sense of déjà vu has been strong with me lately as we do legal battle over the Big Thorne and other massive old-growth timber sales in Southeast Alaska’s rainforest. For all the progress we’ve made … Read more
The Federal District Court in Alaska just issued an Order granting our motion against the Tongass National Forest, stopping four old-growth timber sales in Southeast Alaska for a second time because of concerns related to logging effects on wolves, deer, and subsistence hunters. So raise a glass! The Scott Peak, Traitors Cove, Overlook and Soda Nick timber … Read more
by Gabe Scott A nail is being driven in the coffin on Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. Is it a coffin for the old-growth logging industry; or for Tongass wolves, deer and salmon? It is up to you to decide. Recent announcements by the Obama administration offer glimmers of hope. Secretary Vilsack’s July 3, … Read more
By Gabe Scott, Alaska Field Director CORDOVA, AK—Big plans are in the works on Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, the nation’s largest. It seems everyone has some grand scheme in mind for the largest remaining old-growth forest in the country. The Forest Service is planning huge new timber sales, which they say will bridge the gap … Read more
by Gabe Scott Where is the Tea Party when we need them? I’ve been spending a lot of time lately with two thick Environmental Impact Statements — for the Tonka Timber Sale, and the Big Thorne Timber Sale — out of Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. These fellas are a blast from the past, a nostalgic … Read more
Cascadia Wildlands
P.O. Box 10455
Eugene, OR 97440
541.434.1463
