Tribes, Fishing and Forest Advocates Intervene to Defend the Tongass Against Increased Old-Growth Logging

A coalition of conservation groups, Alaska tribes, a commercial fishing advocacy group and an ecotourism operator today filed a request to intervene in a timber industry legal challenge that seeks to revive industrial old-growth logging in the Tongass National Forest.

The timber industry litigation, filed on March 6, asks a federal court to order the U.S. Forest Service to offer more old-growth trees for timber sales. The plaintiffs — the Alaska Forest Association, Viking Lumber Co., and Alcan Timber Co. — contend the Forest Service violated the law by announcing the Southeast Alaska Sustainability Strategy (SASS) in 2021 and not offering enough large old-growth timber sales to meet government-estimated market demands.

The groups seeking to intervene in the case argue that current forest management is legal and supports a sustainable regional economy that has flourished in recent years as the Tongass has started to recover from large-scale industrial logging. The groups also assert that current management is in line with what most Southeast Alaskans want for the region.

SASS, widely popular in the region, was an announcement describing the Forest Service’s intent to initiate a rulemaking to restore the Roadless Rule to the Tongass, identify investment opportunities to support regional priorities, engage meaningfully with tribes, and end most industrial old-growth logging.

Logging still occurs within the Tongass, but in recent years there have been fewer of the industrial-scale, old-growth clearcut sales the timber industry plaintiffs are seeking. The 2016 Tongass Forest Plan provided for a transition away from old-growth logging to a primarily young-growth industry. Recent timber sales have provided opportunities for logging young-growth used for construction as well as smaller old-growth sales for local mills. The Forest Service has also focused efforts on restoration and recreation projects in the Tongass that support fishing, tourism, and other regional priorities.

Today’s intervention motion comes from the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, the Boat Company, Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, the Wilderness Society, the Organized Village of Kasaan, the Organized Village of Kake, the Center for Biological Diversity, and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Earthjustice represents all of the parties, except for the Center which is representing itself. NRDC is also providing its own counsel, with Earthjustice as co-counsel.

Separately, last week, the federal government filed a motion to dismiss the industry-led lawsuit. The government’s position is that the legal claims brought by timber industry plaintiffs are invalid because they are too broad, aiming at the Tongass’s entire forest management program. If the court agrees with the government, it would end the industry-led legal challenge, resulting in a victory for the groups seeking to intervene today in defense of the Tongass.

Statements from defendant-intervenors and from Earthjustice

“Efforts to impose old-growth logging in the Tongass National Forest set a dangerous precedent for this critical ecosystem and ancestral land and are an insult to the hard-fought efforts to keep destructive development out of the most precious parts of the Tongass,” said Meda DeWitt, Alaska State Senior Manager at The Wilderness Society. “The Tongass is the heart of Indigenous life in Southeast Alaska, a living rainforest that has sustained Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian peoples for over 10,000 years. Logging threatens not only biodiversity and climate resilience, but the cultural survival of communities who have cared for this land since time immemorial. We have to listen to the voices of Southeast Alaska and ensure that this forest is protected — for the preservation of culture, for our climate, and for future generations to come.”

“The real value of the Tongass is in the rich natural capital that provides sustainable dividends year after year to both residents and visitors,” said Linda Behnken, Executive Director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association. “As long as we safeguard the forest’s remarkable intact ecosystems, the Tongass will continue to provide abundant natural resources — wild salmon, clear rivers, clean air. All of that is compromised by cutting old-growth trees that shade salmon streams, regulate water flow, and provide wildlife habitat that, in turn, sustain the economy and our Southeast Alaska way of life. Clearcutting in the Tongass was a mistake of the past, and one that should never be repeated as we work toward a better future.”

“The logging of productive old-growth within the Tongass National Forest would adversely affect tribal communities culturally, nutritiously and economically,” said Organized Village of Kasaan President Mike Jones. “The overall health and wellness of our people would be greatly impacted.”

“The remaining old-growth timber is important to our way of life,” said Organized Village of Kake President Joel Jackson. “Since industrial scale logging stopped, now replaced by tourism, we have seen our forests start healing. Wildlife, like moose, deer and bear, are rebounding. The trees are also important to provide shade for fish streams. The salmon returns are so important to our way of life. We are salmon people and it has sustained our people for thousands of years. Our tribe has long defended the Tongass, and we urge others who want to keep what is left of our old-growth trees to speak out.”

“This lawsuit is nothing more than an attempt to force the Tongass backward,” said Hunter McIntosh, President of The Boat Company. “The Forest Service’s current approach supports the communities, tribes, fisheries, and sustainable industries that actually define Southeast Alaska today. The old model of large-scale logging doesn’t belong in our future — and we’re here to help defend that future.”

“This lawsuit is a cynical attempt to capitalize on a political moment, but the people of Southeast Alaska want healthy forests and sustainable management practices — they don’t want their home destroyed so one industry — part of one industry, even — can relive its glory days of clear cutting old growth,” said Maggie Rabb, Executive Director of the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council.

“This reckless new push to log old-growth trees in the Tongass is utterly out of step with today’s climate and conservation realities,” said Marlee Goska, an Alaska attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “These ancient forests are one of our most powerful natural defenses against the climate crisis, storing vast amounts of carbon and supporting rich ecosystems. Logging Tongass old growth destroys essential wildlife habitat, harms Indigenous and local communities, and undermines the region’s sustainable economies. We can’t let the timber industry drag us back to an era when old-growth forests are devastated without a second thought.”

“This lawsuit by the timber industry is a desperate attempt to turn back the clock on decades of progress on the Tongass. Industrial-scale old growth logging has no place in this critical rainforest,” said Garett Rose, Senior Attorney at NRDC. “Ramping up logging threatens the ecological integrity that countless people and species rely on. And we’re standing with local communities to ensure those values remain intact for decades and centuries to come.”

“The timber industry, in this litigation, is blaming the government for an economic transition toward a sustainable regional economy not centered around industrial-scale logging. That transition was already well underway before the Forest Service announced its Southeast Alaska Sustainability Strategy,” said Earthjustice Attorney Kate Glover. “It’s a transition Southeast residents favor, and the Forest Service is simply following the forest plan by moving away from old-growth logging.”