Cases

Orion North Timber Sale

In Brief:

The Orion North timber sale would clearcut the heart of the last major roadless watershed in Thorne Arm, on Revillagigedo Island near Ketchikan in the Tongass National Forest. The watershed provides important old-growth habitat connecting Misty Fjords National Monument with the valuable coastal habitat along Thorne Arm. 

The Forest Service is proceeding with the timber sale on the basis of a ten-year old environmental impact statement. In the past decade, prices for Tongass timber have plummeted while the costs have skyrocketed. At the same time, significant new information and research over the last decade related to deer and wolves, yellow cedar decline and climate change, endemic species, and invasive species shows the impacts of the timber sale may be more significant than the Forest Service previously anticipated. The Forest Service has refused to consider this information and is proceeding to offer the timber sale anyway.

In March 2009, Earthjustice asked the court to put a halt to the timber sale and road construction until the Forest Service takes the new information into account. On April 30, the district court denied that request for a preliminary injunction and Earthjustice immediately appealed to the 9th Circuit. On July 13, Secretary Tom Vilsack approved the award of a contract for this timber sale, making it the first roadless timber sale authorized since the Secretary issued an interim directive providing that he would review all decisions allowing logging in roadless areas of our national forests.

sea level timber sale

Updated: October 15, 2009

Case #1863