PEERMail | Troubled Timber Sales at Tongass

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Timber Sales Tongass National Forest | GilfotoPEER is suing the U.S. Forest Service to force it to produce a long-promised audit of losses from past timber sales in the Tongass National Forest.

In 2017, PEER obtained an internal Forest Service document that found staggering monetary losses in two large Tongass timber sales. This revelation prompted Acting Deputy Chief Christopher French to commission a full audit of Tongass timber operations.  Despite Forest Service public statements this fall that release was imminent, the audit report, its findings, and recommendations have yet to be produced.

The Tongass is the world’s largest temperate rainforest and the country’s largest national forest. The Trump administration is plowing ahead with a full rollback of the “Roadless Rule” for the Tongass, which will open more than half the forest to logging and road building.

The audit that the Forest Service does not want to release will reveal whether other timber sales in the Tongass have resulted in embarrassing financial losses, ecological destruction and harm to local communities and business.

We’re here to make sure that this repeatedly promised audit is disclosed to the public.


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