The U.S. Forest Service has announced its public meetings schedule for residents across Southeast to share feedback on a revised Tongass National Forest management plan. The plan will set the agency’s priorities for the forest over the next decade or so.
The Tongass is the largest national forest in the U.S., with more than 16 million acres covering 80% of Southeast Alaska. Forest plans are typically updated every 10 to 15 years, and the last one for the Tongass was completed in 2016.
The new plan will influence how the Forest Service balances a range of uses including logging, recreation, tourism, subsistence harvest and ecosystem health.
In-person meetings are planned from the end of March through early May and will take place in Juneau, Haines, Skagway, Ketchikan, Yakutat, Naukati Bay, Hoonah, Edna Bay, Kasaan, Tenakee, Hydaburg, Craig, Gustavus, Wrangell, Petersburg, Kake, Sitka and Angoon.
Specific time and location details for these meetings are available on the agency’s webpage under “In-Person Engagement Opportunities.”
The Forest Service launched the public process for updating the plan last month, with an initial 30-day public comment period and a notice to begin an environmental review.
The public notice said the agency will ensure the plan is consistent with two of President Donald Trump’s executive orders aimed at maximizing mineral extraction and logging in Alaska, and that a new timber demand analysis will inform logging projections in the plan.
The first deadline to submit comments electronically is March 20. The agency expects to publish a draft revised plan and draft environmental impact statement this fall, followed by a 90-day public comment period. The final plan is expected next May.
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