U.S. District Judge John Bates dismissed a lawsuit filed by a timber group and an organization of Southeast Alaska civic and business leaders. The Southeast Conference and Alaska Forest Association had challenged a 2008 management plan for the Tongass developed by the Bush administration. Environmental groups hailed the ruling as a small victory, saying the judge had prevented what they consider a bad forest plan from becoming even worse. Those groups say the Bush plan does not do enough to protect old-growth reserves and sites that are sacred to Alaska Native tribes.
Under legal arguments made by the industry groups, any effort to protect forest land or prevent logging could have been barred, said Tom Waldo, an attorney for Earthjustice, an environmental group that is involved in a separate lawsuit over the Tongass.
"This was an attempt by the timber industry to take a bad forest plan and make it even worse," Waldo said, adding that the judge's ruling kept that from happening.
Shelly Wright, executive director of the Southeast Conference, said she was disappointed.
At more than 26,000 square miles, the Tongass is about the same size as West Virginia and is often labeled the "crown jewel" in the national forest system. It encompasses most of Southeast Alaska.
The Bush plan leaves about 3.4 million acres of the 17-million acre forest open to logging and other development, including about 2.4 million acres of backcountry areas that are remote and roadless. About 663,000 acres are in areas considered most valuable for timber production.
Mark Gnadt, a spokesman for the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, said his group was pleased with what he called a common-sense decision.
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