US to end large, old-growth timber sales in Alaska forest

The Biden administration says it's ending large-scale, old-growth timber sales in the country’s largest national forest and will focus on forest restoration, recreation and other noncommercial uses

WASHINGTON -- The Biden administration said Thursday that it is ending large-scale, old-growth timber sales in the country's largest national forest — the Tongass National Forest in Alaska — and will focus on forest restoration, recreation and other noncommercial uses. The U.S. Agriculture Department, which includes the Forest Service, also said it will take steps to reverse a Trump administration decision last year to lift restrictions on logging and road-building in the southeast Alaska rainforest, which provides habitat for wolves, bears and salmon. A 2001 rule prohibits road construction and timber harvests with limited exceptions on nearly one-third of national forest land. The Trump administration moved to exempt the Tongass from those prohibitions, something Alaska political leaders had sought for years. Restoring those protections in the Tongass would return “stability and certainty to the conservation of 9.3 million acres of the world’s largest temperate old growth rainforest,” the Agriculture Department said. It expects to initiate a rulemaking process next month that will include a chance for public comment, Forest Service spokesperson Larry Moore said.