The Forest Service isn’t legally obligated to meet timber harvesting goals in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
In a lawsuit brought by southeast Alaska timber interests, U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason rejected an argument that the Tongass Timber Reform Act and related laws compel the Forest Service to pursue harvesting goals that meet market demand — a level well in excess of what the federal agency actually sells from the 16.7 million-acre forest.
“Whether the harvest levels are designed to actually meet market demand is a discretionary agency decision, not a mandatory requirement imposed by the TTRA or the Forest Service,” Gleason wrote in granting the agency’s request to dismiss the case in the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska.
Timber harvest objectives in the Tongass timber law are “infused with discretion,” Gleason wrote.
