Public comment opens on new Tongass plan

The U.S. Forest Service announced in the Federal Register Wednesday, Feb 18, that it is preparing to update the Tongass National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan to align with executive orders that President Trump issued when he took office last year.

Also on Feb. 18, the Forest Service opened a 30-day public comment period on the planned update.

The current Tongass plan has been in place since 1979, and the last major revision of the management plan for the 16.7-million acre national forest was in 1997.

Amendments to the plan in 2016 emphasized a transition to young-growth logging.

Th...