Two environmental conservation groups and a Southeast Alaska tribe have filed suit against the U.S. Forest Service, challenging a logging project just east of Ketchikan.
The Forest Service announced in July that it would move forward with the South Revilla Integrated Resource Project, a plan that includes harvesting over 5,000 acres of trees, mostly old growth, in the Tongass National Forest. It also includes construction of new trails, cabins, boat launches and roads.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court last week by the Ketchikan Indian Community, the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, and the Center for Biological Diversity, alleges the project violates federal law because “the Forest Service failed to rationally balance the Tongass’s multiple uses.”
The complaint alleges that the project’s logging of old-growth trees will harm subsistence and recreation resources. It also highlights potential impacts to wildlife, the ecosystem and the economy.
The suit lists several defendants, including the Forest Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It also lists Forest Service Region 10 Acting Regional Forester Jeremiah Ingersoll and the Tongass National Forest Acting Forest Service Supervisor Janelle Crocker. The Forest Service could not immediately be reached for comment.
The South Revilla plans were first introduced in 2018 but were paused in 2020. Last year, the Trump administration issued an executive order to expand timber production.
Following an environmental review, the Forest Service decided that work on the South Revilla project can begin immediately.
Hunter Morrison is a Report for America corps member for KRBD. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one. Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution.
