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APRIL 3, 2001

A federal judge in Alaska has ordered all logging and timber sales in the Tongass National Forest to stop pending a new environmental analysis by the US Forest Service.

US District Judge James K. Singleton Jr. last Friday ruled that the Forest Service failed to comply with federal law it devised a management plan for the forest four years ago. He said the Forest Service failed to consider some areas eligible for a wilderness designation by Congress.

The logging and sale stoppage applies to 9.4 million roadless acres of the forest.

The Tongass is also set to be affected by the Forest Service's roadless initiative should the Bush administration decide to keep the controversial rules. The Kootenai Tribe of Idaho has joined a lawsuit opposing the plan and some Alaska Native villages and corporations expressed opposition during the rules' comment period.

Get the Story:
Forest Service's Tongass plan skirted law, judge says (The Anchorage Daily News 4/3)

Relevant Links:
Roadless Forest Plan - roadless.fs.fed.us

Related Stories:
Tribe says not consulted about forest plan (Enviro 3/26)
Bush still reviewing forest plan (Enviro 3/22)
Judge rejects forest plan delay (Enviro 3/21)
EDITORIAL: Honor roadless initiative (Enviro 3/21)
Controversial forest plan delayed (Enviro 02/06)
Cantwell questions Ashcroft (Politics 1/18)
Tribe sues over forest plan (Enviro 01/09)
Roadless forest plan draws fire (Enviro 01/08)