Forest service plans large sale of Alaskan old growth timber

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – The U.S. Forest Service is planning the largest sale of Alaskan old growth timber in years.

KTOO reported Saturday that the Prince of Wales Island Landscape Level Analysis project will harvest as much as 225 million board feet (about 53,094 cubic meters) of old growth lumber from Prince of Wales Island in Tongass National Forest.

The service says the process will be gradual as it will not allow more than 100 acres of clear cutting at one time from the southeastern Alaska region.

The logging industry group Alaska Forest Association says harvesting the trees will keep remaining mills open.

Critics say the deal is a retreat from the forest service’s 2016 announcement it would largely phase out old growth timber sales in the Tongass over 15 years.
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Information from: KTOO-FM, http://www.ktoo.org