U.S. Forest Service Moves Backwards on Old-Growth Logging

Today the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) released a draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Prince of Wales Landscape Level Analysis project, proposing massive new old-growth clearcutting on the largest island in our nation’s largest forest. In 2016, the USFS committed to a transition out of old-growth logging and away from uneconomical and destructive timber sales like this proposal.

Defenders of Wildlife Senior Alaska Representative, Pat Lavin, issued the following statement:

"The U.S. Forest Service committed to transition away from logging old-growth on the Tongass in 2016 because the agency correctly concluded that there is no future in clearcutting these magnificent forests. Clearing old-growth forests on Prince of Wales is a return to the past – the island has already suffered some of the most intensive industrial-scale clear-cut logging on the Tongass. More taxpayer-subsidized logging won’t create many jobs but will threaten wildlife such as the Alexander Archipelago wolf, Sitka black-tailed deer, northern flying squirrel and many other old-growth dependent species.

"It's time to bring a real transition to southeast Alaska – one that restores wildlife habitat and watersheds and supports the new sustainable economy of fishing and tourism, not unsustainable old-growth logging."