Two environmental conservation groups and a Southeast Alaska tribe have filed a motion to stop a timber sale that’s part of a logging project east of Ketchikan.
The Shelter Cove Timber Sale is the first timber harvest in the South Revilla Integrated Resource Project. That’s a plan greenlit by the U.S. Forest Service in July that includes harvesting over 5,000 acres of trees, mostly old growth, in the Tongass National Forest. It also includes construction of new roads, trails, cabins and boat launches.
The motion for a preliminary injunction was filed in U.S. District Court on Wednesday by the Ketchikan Indian Community, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council. They argue that stopping the timber sale is “necessary to prevent irreparable harm to Plaintiffs’ way-of-life and interest in the Tongass’s habitat, wildlife, subsistence resources and other important values.” The motion is in addition to a lawsuit filed in August that challenges the South Revilla logging project as a whole.
The Shelter Cove Timber Sale was advertised last month and could allow the harvest of 4 million board feet of timber. The groups who filed the motion to halt the sale are asking for a court decision before the Forest Service awards a contract. Bids are scheduled to be opened on October 20.
The larger 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.
