Petersburg Pilot -

ANCHORAGE (AP) — A logging project in the Tongass National Forest is closer to beginning after a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by conservation groups.

KTVA reports U.S. District Court Judge Ralph Beistline ruled in favor of the U.S. Forest Service on Friday.

The Forest Service last year approved selling 6,000 acres of old growth trees for logging as part of the Big Thorne timber project on Prince of Wales Island.

Environmental groups have raised concerns about how the logging would affect wolf and deer populations.

The Forest Service awarded a contract for the timber the region'...