Conservation groups sue to end Tongass timber sale

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Eight conservation groups sued Tuesday to stop the largest sale of Alaska old growth timber in decades, claiming the U.S. Forest Service violated environmental policy and its own management plan for the Tongass National Forest with the sale.

The agency’s plan is to harvest as much as 225 million board feet (53,094 cubic meters) of old growth timber from Prince of Wales Island.

The Forest Service didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.

The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason, who has dealt two setbacks to the Trump administration this year.

She found President Donald Trump exceeded his authority when reversing bans on offshore drilling, and that the administration violated federal law with a proposed road that would split a wilderness area in a national wildlife refuge.