Wrangell Sentinel -

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) _ The first phase of the largest timber sale in Tongass National Forest in decades is moving ahead, and the U.S. Forest Service is asking for public comment through May 13.

The Forest Service has confirmed it plans to offer about 225 million board feet (531,000 cubic meters) of Tongass old growth timber over 15 years, CoastAlaska reported Monday.

More than a fifth of that could be in the next year alone.

But the federal agency insists this is much more than a timber sale. The agency prefers calling it a ``landscape level analysis'' because it's folded into other work.

Th...