A lawsuit filed in federal court in Anchorage on behalf of a Southeast Alaska tribe and two conservation groups is challenging federal approval of a 15-year logging plan in the Tongass National Forest.

The large-scale, old-growth logging sale on Revillagigedo Island east of Ketchikan approved by the U.S. Forest Service spans more than 40,000 acres on the southern part of the island.  

Attorneys with Earthjustice filed their case on Aug. 27 in U.S. District Court in Anchorage. They contend that this largest old-growth logging plan in the Tongass in more than a decade would cause immense environmental destruction.

Gloria Ilsxilee Stang Burns, president of the Ketchikan Indian Community, said the Forest Service decision was disappointing but not unexpected.

The tribe has been here since time immemorial and will continue fighting to protect these lands and waters for as long as it takes, she said. The Ketchikan tribe is a party to the lawsuit.

The U.S. Forest Service has not responded to a request for comment.

“Most of what is under this project is clearcutting in areas important for subsistence and recreation,” said Kate Glover, an Earthjustice attorney.

“Building roads across streams can include culverts that block hundreds of miles of salmon streams,” she said.

“There are requirements for how the roads are built, but there is a huge maintenance problem. The Tongass already has a significant backlog of road maintenance and hundreds of miles of salmon spawning habitat that is inaccessible because of blocked culverts. Authorizing more road construction and logging in this area will only exacerbate that problem.”

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit contend that the Forest Service has left the public largely without information on what parts of the area would actually be sold and logged, and that the agency intends to make those decisions outside the public process with no transparency.

The final Record of Decision for the project, issued on July 31, authorizes logging of some 60 million board feet of old-growth trees, plus young growth of some 23 million board feet.  The plan also authorizes 40 miles of new roads and reopening of 30 miles of closed roads to access the logging area.

In 2020, the first administration of President Donald Trump proposed a similar project, but that was ultimately shelved after widespread opposition.

The logging was a terrible idea six years ago and remains a terrible idea today, said Earthjustice attorney Olivia Glasscock.

Maggie Rabb, executive director of the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, criticized the project as authorization of extensive logging that values short-term profits for a small number of people over long-term benefits for the old-growth forest. 

Marlee Goska, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, said leaving old-growth trees standing in the Tongass is essential for wildlife like goshawk and wolves, to help fight climate change and to sustain the cultural well-being and economies of Southeast Alaska.

“We will keep fighting to protect these irreplaceable forests,” she said.