Alaska tribe sues feds to stop logging in Tongass National Forest

The Ketchikan Indian Community, Center for Biological Diversity, and Southeast Alaska Conservation Council sued the U.S. Forest Service Thursday over its approval of the South Revilla logging project in the Tongass National Forest, clearing over 40,000 acres for future timber sales including immediate harvest of more than 4,000 acres of old growth.

The Forest Service's own January environmental analysis found the plan would harm subsistence resources, wildlife, and old-growth habitat, and could affect Sitka black-tailed deer populations for over a century. The agency selected this option anyway, stating it offered greater economic benefit than alternatives that caused less damage.

The lawsuit arrives as the federal government moves to repeal the 2001 Roadless Rule protecting 45 million acres of federal land, a policy Trump previously sought to exempt the Tongass from during his first term. The Forest Service did not respond to a request for comment.

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