Rough draft of revised Tongass plan envisioning more resource development released for public comment

Forest Service refers to document as ‘preliminary draft plan content’; proposes increasing annual timber harvests to 72M board feet, up from 46M in plan last revised in 2016

The U.S. Forest Service’s Juneau Ranger District office on Monday, March 23, 2026. (Laurie Craig / Juneau Independent)

By Mark Sabbatini

Juneau Independent

This is a developing story.

An early look at Tongass National Forest management plan revisions intended to suit the Trump administration shows, as pledged, a focus on expanding timber and other natural resource development.

A 117-page document referred to as "Preliminary Draft Plan Content" was released Monday by the U.S. Forest Service. Among its extensive recommendations are expanding second-growth timber harvesting activity, allowing "a projected timber sale quantity increasing to 72 million board feet per year in the next decade, due to more young growth reaching harvestable age."

"The volume of young growth as part of the yearly offer increases annually until young growth is the dominant portion of what is offered," the draft adds.

The official plan last updated in 2016 calls for an average harvest of 46 million board feet annually. The draft released Monday notes the Forest Service is conducting a new long-term timber demand analysis as part of the revised management plan.

Another major recommendation in the draft is reducing the number of management areas and "simplifying" regulations in those areas.

The document released Monday "is not a complete Draft Forest Plan," the U.S. Forest Service noted at its website.

"It is a starting point meant to elicit feedback, and will likely change by the time this goes out as a complete Draft Forest Plan," the website states.

The release also marks the beginning of a public comment period scheduled through May 6, with online and in-person meetings scheduled throughout Southeast starting this week. Those include an online town hall from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Wednesday when "an overview of the recently released preliminary draft plan materials" will be presented and an in-person meeting in Juneau from 5-7 p.m. April 15 at the Juneau Ranger District office.

"This feedback period is meant to focus primarily on the preliminary content," the Forest Service website notes. "At this time, public feedback will be used to refine a proposed action, help develop alternatives, and determine which substantive issues will be analyzed in detail in the Environmental Impact Statement. Your feedback on plan content would be most helpful if it focused on these goals."

Areas where an "overarching need to change" exists, according to the draft:

• "Update and modernize the plan consistent with the 2012 Planning Rule by simplifying, clarifying,

reorganizing, and reducing the number of management areas for concise, easy to follow direction."

• "Prioritize local and regional prosperity of Southeast Alaska by contributing to timber, minerals,

tourism, recreation, and other important economic drivers."

• "Incorporate strategies to address significant changes in recreation and tourism, including the

increase in cruise ship visitation."

• "Include plan content that encourages collaboration and shared stewardship with a variety of

partners in pursuit of common objectives. These partners can include local, state, and tribal

governments; Alaska Native Corporations; industry stakeholders; and other non-governmental

organizations."

• "Consider needs for subsistence uses such as hunting, fishing and gathering when developing the

revised plan."

• "Consider indigenous knowledge related to land stewardship, cultural issues, and culturally

significant sites."

The Forest Service just completed another comment period on the revised plan Friday. Nearly 600 comments were submitted between Feb. 17 and March 20. The agency prior to that comment period made it clear President Donald Trump’s goal of expanding natural resource industries in Alaska would be a goal of the revision.

A press release issued by the Forest Service at that time spells out the past and new parameters that will be considered in the revised draft.

“Public comments will help identify changes that are needed to the current plan, adopted in 1997, to align with best available science, as well as laws and regulations, including President Trump’s Executive Order 14225 – Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production to support American economies and improve forest health and Executive Order 14153 Unleash Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential, benefitting the Nation and the American citizens who call Alaska home,” the Forest Service announcement in February stated.

Notably, the draft does include recommendations to mitigate impacts caused by climate change, which Trump has called a hoax and sought to eliminate as a factor from a wide range of federal policymaking. Among the references in the Tongass report published Monday are ensuring "winter trails and trailheads" and "watersheds and associated aquatic ecosystems" are resilient to climate change, along with factoring climate into timber-related reforestation efforts.

The Forest Service’s timeline, as of Monday, calls for a draft Environmental Impact Statement by August of this year, a final EIS by May of 2027, a decision by October of 2027 and implementation of the revised plan by November of 2027.

• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.