Judge Blocks Logging the Tongass

The largest in-tact remnant of temperate rain forest in North America, the Tongass, has been the target of loggers for decades.  A running battle has been waged by conservationists to protect it.  The latest skirmish resulted in a victory for environmentalists earlier this month when the Federal District Court for Alaska ruled that the Forest Service violated multiple environmental law provisions when it attempted to issue a broad management plan for the forest that would allow logging without individual site specific environmental impact assessments.  The Forest Service's attempt to promulgate a non-specific logging policy for Prince of Wales Island is part of the regime's larger effort to gut the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA), which was signed into law by a Repugnant president. (Nixon)  This Act has been the mainstay of environmental protection policy for half a century.

The 16.7 million acre Tongass is the nation's largest forest and the center of debate over the proper use of federal lands--resource exploitation or preservation of wild lands.  With the widespread recognition of global warming as a major threat to the nation's future security--except among religious and political extremists--the debate has become more contentious.

In her ruling Judge Gleason, appointed by Barack Obama, wrote that the Forest Service management plan was insufficient to satisfy the requirements of NEPA and violated provisions of the Tongass forest plan and the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, which protects the rights of subsistence hunters.  The plan for Prince of Wales island would have allowed 23,000 acres of old-growth and 19,000 acres of younger trees to be felled, plus the construction of 164 miles of roads.  Logging activity in the Tongass has fallen off over the years, and loggers constantly complain of the burden of environmental regulation.  The plan under review would have eliminated the need to conduct site specific impact assessments.  Trump officials have embraced the Forest Service approach “as a way to lock in logging over huge areas over vast lengths of time.” according to an attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the plaintiffs in the case.  A temporary injunction was obtained against plan implementation in 2019 and will remain in effect until the case is finally resolved.