The Tongass National Forest stretches across 17 million acres (nearly 7 million hectares) of southeastern Alaska, making it not only the largest national forest in the United States but also the world's largest remaining temperate old-growth rainforest. Its ancient trees — some centuries old — provide habitat for more than 400 species, including bald eagles, brown bears, Chinook salmon, Steller's sea lions, mountain goats, and the Haida ermine, a rare white relative of the weasel found only in this region and classified as endangered.
In March 2026, US District Judge Sharon L. Gleason dismissed a lawsuit brought by three timber interests — the Alaska Forest Association, Viking Lumber Company, and Alcan Timber Incorporated — against the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the US Forest Service. The plaintiffs had argued that a 1990 law called the Tongass Timber Reform Act required the Forest Service to offer enough timber for sale to meet market demand — a requirement that, they claimed, had not been met in recent years. They also challenged a 2021 strategy that had effectively ended large-scale old-growth logging in the Tongass.
Judge Gleason rejected both arguments. She found that the 1990 law imposes no mandatory obligation on the Forest Service to meet market demand for timber, describing it as a matter of discretionary agency judgement. The dismissal was granted "with prejudice," a legal term meaning the case is permanently closed — the same plaintiffs cannot bring identical claims against the same defendants again.
The Tongass stores more carbon per acre than almost any other forest on the planet, and its intact watershed supports one of the most significant wild salmon runs remaining in North America. Conservation groups and Indigenous communities who had joined the case on the side of the defence welcomed the decision. The ruling preserves protections that have been in place since 2021, though the Trump administration is separately pursuing a new forest management plan that could allow more logging in the Tongass in future.