Objection window · closes November 30
Tongass nears decision on 1,655-acre old-growth logging sale on Prince of Wales Island
U.S. Forest Service · Tongass National Forest, Thorne Bay Ranger District
- What
- The Forest Service is close to approving logging of up to 26.8 million board feet of old-growth timber on Prince of Wales Island.
- Where
- Tongass National Forest, Thorne Bay Ranger District, Staney, AK
- How much
- Only those who submitted written comments during the earlier public participation window are eligible to file an objection now.
- By when
- Objections to U.S. Forest Service by November 30, 2026; only people who commented earlier may file one.Date from Forest Service CARA comment page ↗, read October 17, 2026.
Where these four lines come from
- WhatOur plain-English read of the U.S. Forest Service project page ↗. Check it against the agency’s own words under Case.
- WhereThe places and states the notice names, as PLAN read them.
- How muchThe first sentence of our What’s at risk read of the notice; the whole read is under Case.
- By whenNovember 30, 2026, from Forest Service CARA comment page, the notice text ↗: “requested through 11/30/2026 11:59:59 PM (Alaskan Standard Time)”. Read October 17, 2026. 36 CFR 218.6(c) runs an objection clock from the legal notice in the newspaper of record, so take the date from that notice.
- Read from PLAN’s record October 17, 2026.
This is not a comment period
The comment round on this one is over
What is open now is a pre-decisional objection period. Only individuals and entities that already submitted timely, specific written comments during an earlier public comment opportunity on this project may file an objection (36 CFR 218.5(a)). If you commented, this is your round. If you did not, no filing you send here will be accepted, and the honest thing for us to say is that this door is closed to you rather than to hand you a form.
An organization’s comments count for the organization only. Being a member of a group that commented does not make you eligible; you had to comment in your own name (36 CFR 218.5(c)).
Do not file on our date. Get it from the notice. The objection clock runs from the day the legal notice was published in the forest’s newspaper of record, and that publication date is the exclusive means of calculating it. Objectors may not rely on a date from any other source (36 CFR 218.6(c)). The agency has to post that notice on the web within four days of publishing it (36 CFR 218.7(d)), so it is on the project page.
For what it is worth, the Forest Service comment portal listed November 30, 2026 for this project when we read it. That is the portal’s own field, not the legal notice, and we have not reconciled the two. We would rather show you where it came from than let it stand in for the law.
The comment round on this one is closed and only people who commented then can object now. What everyone can still do is call the members who answer to them and put the signature on the record.
4 holes in the agency’s own analysis
Make these points, in your own words
- This proposal would log up to 26.4 million board feet of old-growth timber across 1,738 acres of Tongass National Forest on Prince of Wales Island, permanently eliminating irreplaceable ancient forest.
- The Twin Mountain II Timber Sale would build new roads in the Staney and Red Bay areas of the Thorne Bay Ranger District, opening currently roadless old-growth to industrial logging.
- Harvesting old-growth across 1,738 acres using both even-aged and uneven-aged cutting over a 15-year period would cause lasting harm to the ecological integrity of the Tongass National Forest.
- The Forest Service should not approve road construction and timber harvest at this scale in the Staney and Red Bay areas without fully accounting for the long-term loss of old-growth forest on Prince of Wales Island.
Say something only you can say. The law requires the agency to consider and respond to substantive comments, and specifics are what make a comment substantive.
PLAN's read: critical threat
The Forest Service is close to approving logging of up to 26.8 million board feet of old-growth timber on Prince of Wales Island.
What’s at risk
If this goes through
Our plain-English read of the official notice ↗. Check it against the agency’s own words below.
In the agency’s own words
The proposed action is expected to produce about 26.8 million board feet of timber from approximately 1,655 acres of National Forest System lands in the Staney and Red Bay areas within the Thorne Bay RD. Other activities include road construction, reconstruction, maintenance and decommissioning.
The groups on this fight
4 groups work this ground: Tongass National Forest
Works this ground means the editors' sourced record puts the group on this land, not that it has taken a side on this decision. Give straight to them; nothing routes through us.
- Southeast Alaska Conservation Council
Works this ground · not linked to this decision
Works this ground at Tongass National Forest: Southeast Alaska’s homegrown defender of the Tongass since 1970.
Source ↗ - Alaska Wilderness League
Works this ground · not linked to this decision
Works this ground at Tongass National Forest: Works the Tongass and the Roadless Rule fight in Washington.
Source ↗ - Earthjustice
Works this ground · not linked to this decision
Works this ground at Tongass National Forest: Has litigated the Tongass Roadless Rule fights for two decades.
Source ↗ - Natural Resources Defense Council
Works this ground · not linked to this decision
Works this ground at Tongass National Forest: Party to the Tongass Roadless Rule litigation.
Source ↗
Every group above is on STAND for Public Lands, with its court record, its filings and who backs it.
Who signs it
The notice names no signer PLAN could read. PLAN names a decision-maker only when the document names one.
The ground
Tongass National Forest
The photograph on this page: Tongass National Forest, Alaska. More Than Just Parks.
Who holds the vote
PLAN’s record doesn’t tie a member of Congress to this fight yet. The scorecard grades the votes and bills that decide public lands; nothing joins a vote or a bill to this decision, so there’s no member to name here without guessing.
See how your members vote ↗Calling your two senators and your representative is the Call door on this page.
Forest ServiceWe track this on the agency’s own system of record, where most on-the-ground decisions live.
Know an open comment period we are missing, or spotted a wrong deadline? .
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