"Forest Service"

The area’s finalized improvement plan includes a new visitor center, more parking, an expanded trail system and more.

Southeast Alaska is getting special attention in part because the Biden administration wants to reinstitute the Roadless Rule in the Tongass and end large-scale, old-growth logging.

The wood came from a sawmill in Hoonah. The new cabin replaces one that was further along the alpine ridge, another mile south of town.

Soaring lumber prices could be a boon for Southeast Alaska’s struggling timber industry. The pandemic has fueled the demand for both renovations and the new home construction market, and supply has not kept up.

Southeast Alaskans who rely on the Tongass National Forest for food say the Trump administration’s decision to lift the Roadless Rule threatens their way of life.

“I had no idea what that could possibly mean,” said hiker Roald Simonson. The weird sign led him to a learn about how the Forest Service maintains remote outhouses.