Legal Action Seeks to Halt Old-Growth Logging Sale in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest

A Southeast Alaska Tribe and two conservation groups filed a motion today in federal court in Alaska to halt the first timber sale connected to a recently-approved, large-scale, old-growth logging project east of Ketchikan in the Tongass National Forest.  

Today’s request for a preliminary injunction seeks to prevent this first sale on Revillagigedo Island from moving forward while a lawsuit filed in August against the larger project is considered by the court.  

The Shelter Cove Timber sale was announced earlier this month offering 4 million board feet of timber for bidding to logging companies. Bids will be opened on Oct. 20 and a contract could be awarded shortly thereafter.  

The sale is around North Saddle Lakes, near Shelter Cove—an area prized for subsistence and recreation opportunities. The sale area is comprised of old-growth trees, which is the most valuable to the timber industry but critical for ecosystems to keep standing. Logging and roadbuilding allowed under the project would harm subsistence ways of life, allow clearcutting in important recreation areas, fragment the forest, and harm important wildlife species including salmon, deer, goshawk, wolves, marten, and black bears.  

In addition to causing immense environmental destruction, the cost for the Forest Service to run the Tongass old-growth timber sale program has led to a deficit of hundreds of millions of dollars covered by taxpayers. The sale, along with the larger South Revilla project, is likely to continue this trend. 

Comments from Ketchikan Indian Community, the groups, and Earthjustice 

President Gloria Ilsxilee Stáng Burns, Ketchikan Indian Community: “We as Indigenous peoples have cared for these lands and waters since time immemorial. Our traditional and ecological knowledge comes from generations of living with, learning from, and caring for this place. It cannot continue to be treated as an afterthought in decisions about our homelands, nor can our lands and resources simply be viewed as commodities to be exploited. 

We will not stand by while decisions are made that threaten the lands, waters, wildlife, and traditional ways of life our people have depended upon for generations. We carry a responsibility to our ancestors who cared for these lands before us, and to our children and the generations yet unborn who deserve to inherit healthy forests, clean waters, and the ability to continue practicing our traditional ways of life. 

Ketchikan Indian Community will continue to stand up for our people, our traditional knowledge, and our homelands. We have been here since time immemorial, and we will continue fighting to protect these lands and waters for as long as it takes. That responsibility does not end with us. It is something we carry forward for every generation that comes after us.” 

Maggie Rabb, executive director of the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council:  “There’s no way to undo the damage this sale will bring — we’re looking at the loss of irreplaceable old growth, which will be devastating to wildlife, fish and the people who rely on healthy forests here. Rushing ahead on the South Revilla project demonstrates prioritization by the US Forest Service of the wishes of a small number of timber companies and industry lobbyists over the needs of Tribal governments, subsistence harvesters and community voices.” 

Edie Leghorn, Alaska attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity:  “It’s shameful that the Trump administration is about to sell off ancient trees that provide a home for goshawk and wolves and sustain the wellbeing of Southeast Alaska communities,” said Edie Leghorn, Alaska attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Logging would devastate these remaining pockets of Tongass old growth, leaving behind only scars in what is now a thriving, biodiverse temperate rainforest protecting us from the climate crisis. I hope the court will stop this sale and consider our lawsuit before these irreplaceable old-growth trees are gone and the forest is changed forever.” 

Earthjustice Attorney Olivia Glasscock: “This old-growth sale, along with the larger timber project it’s a part of, threatens to destroy the most valuable, remaining old-growth forests on Revilla Island. By approving this massive project and offering this sale, the Forest Service ignored key laws and a management plan designed to prevent this kind of harm. We’re suing to safeguard critical old growth within the Tongass and we’re asking the court to prevent this sale from moving forward.” 

Background 

This timber sale is the first to be offered under the South Revilla project, with more planned. The South Revilla project, which spans more than 40,000 acres on the southern part of the island, is the largest old-growth logging project authorized by the U.S. Forest Service in the Tongass in more than a decade.  

It’s part of a massive, national expansion of logging pushed by the Trump administration. In March 2025, the Trump administration issued an executive order to “fully exploit our domestic timber supply.” The administration has also proposed a full repeal of the Roadless Rule, which protects 45 million acres of national forest lands, including 9 million acres of the Tongass, from road building and commercial logging. 

Congress is similarly pushing for an increase in logging. The budget reconciliation bill that passed last year included a requirement to progressively increase the volume of logging. 

Another large, old-growth logging project in the Tongass, Twin Mountain II, is in the planning process on Prince of Wales Island. 

In addition, the Forest Service is currently revising the forest plan for the Tongass. The new plan could shift forest management away from the Southeast Alaska Sustainability Strategy, which aimed to end large-scale old-growth logging in the Tongass.