The Tongass National Forest is the largest rainforest is the largest of its kind in the United States as well as the world’s largest temperate rainforest. The forest is home to many animals such as the bald eagle, sperm whale, Steller’s sea lion, Chinook salmon, brown bear, mountain goat, and the Endangered Haida ermine which is a white animal similar to a weasel. Despite all this a coalition of loggers consisting of the Alaska Forest Association, Viking Lumber Company, Inc., and Alcan Timber Incorporated wanted to begin cutting down the trees.
To get the ball rolling they decided to sue the US Dept. of Agriculture and its secretary, and the US Forest Service and its director, last March. It was stated that “Judge Sharon L. Gleason granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss, and did so ‘with prejudice,’” the term “with prejudice” means that logging coalllition can never sue the same parties for the same reasons ever again.
This means that the rainforest is completley safe from logging from now on. “This ruling is a big victory for the Tongass’ old-growth forests. I’m relieved the court squarely rejected the logging industry’s rash attempt to force large-scale logging,” Marlee Goska, the Center for Biological Diversity’s Alaska attorney, said in an email to GearJunkie. “This lawsuit had no legal basis, and the court was right to dismiss the case outright. We need to leave the Tongass standing for the sake of wildlife, climate, and local communities.”
