America's Salmon Forest
  • The Tongass
    • See the Tongass
    • Watch the Tongass
  • The Issues
    • Public Lands
    • Roadless Rule
    • Steelhead
    • The Tongass 77
    • Canadian Mining
  • Take Action
    • Public Lands
    • Canadian Mining
    • Community Science
  • News
    • News
    • Blog
    • Press Releases
  • About Us
    • Our Team
    • Contact Us
  • Donate
    • Stickers

Blog

Wolves and Logging in the Tongass National Forest

3/4/2014

 
PictureSoutheast Alaskan Wolf - photo by Cam Byrnes
The Juneau Empire recently published a guest editorial on the Big Thorne timber sale on Prince of Wales Island in Southeast Alaska’s Tongass National Forest.

 The controversial old-growth sale is on hold pending a review of how the proposed logging would potentially impact wolf, deer and bear populations on the island.  
 
Big Thorne is the largest timber sale on the Tongass since the era of industrial logging on the Tongass when two large pulp mills and several medium-sized sawmills operated in Southeast Alaska. Most of the mills closed in the 1990s and the U.S. Forest Service, which largely manages the 17-million-acre Tongass, has pledged to transition away from old-growth logging. But it’s been slow in doing so.

 The Big Thorne sale would produce up to 150 million board feet of timber. It would involve logging more than 6,000 acres of old growth and more than 2,000 acres of second-growth forest in a part of the Tongass that has already experienced heavy timber harvest.

 Big Thorne has been criticized by conservation, fishing and sportsmens groups, including Trout Unlimited.

 ”Big Thorne, as it stands now, is a huge step backwards for the Tongass. Southeast Alaska’s economy revolves around fishing and tourism and this large timber sale directly threatens the jobs and revenue those industries produce. It makes no sense from an economic or ecological standpoint,” said Austin Williams, Trout Unlimited’s Forest Program Manager.

Read the Empire editorial by Emily Mount, a naturalist for Lindblad Expeditions/National Geographic and former Glacier Bay National Park ranger.



Comments are closed.
    Submit your own story!

    Categories

    All
    People Of Southeast
    Public Lands
    Roadless
    Timber Sale
    Tongass 77

    Archives

    January 2021
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    July 2018
    May 2018
    February 2018
    November 2017
    June 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012

    RSS Feed

AMERICA'S SALMON FOREST 

is a coalition of sport, commercial, and subsistence fishermen, business owners and operators as well as private citizens working together to conserve high-quality salmon and trout spawning and rearing habitat in the Tongass, America's largest national forest.

CONNECT
JOIN THE CONVERSATION

Join Us!
  • The Tongass
    • See the Tongass
    • Watch the Tongass
  • The Issues
    • Public Lands
    • Roadless Rule
    • Steelhead
    • The Tongass 77
    • Canadian Mining
  • Take Action
    • Public Lands
    • Canadian Mining
    • Community Science
  • News
    • News
    • Blog
    • Press Releases
  • About Us
    • Our Team
    • Contact Us
  • Donate
    • Stickers