By Ryan Dezember
A federal court in Anchorage has dismissed a case filed last year by an Alaska sawmill seeking to force the Forest Service to increase logging in the Tongass National Forest, a blow to the region's dwindling forest-products industry at a time when President Trump has promised to boost the wood harvest from public lands.
Log sales have slowed to a trickle in the forest that covers most of southeast Alaska, endangering the region's remaining logging and lumber operations, Viking Lumber and its co-plaintiffs argued in the suit. Viking, which supplies Sitka spruce to piano maker Steinway & Sons as well as other cuts of wood to luthiers and remodelers, said that without additional sales from the Tongass, it would run out of logs to saw. Without more it would have to close the mill it operates on remote Prince of Wales Island, where the biggest town, Craig, has about 1,000 residents and few other options for jobs.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, a defendant in the suit, had been supportive of Viking on social media last year.
But in court her department argued successfully that a 2016 management plan for Tongass merely mapped out goals and doesn't bind the Forest Service to offer specific quantities or types of timber for sale, contrary to Viking's claims.
"It's the wrong decision," said Viking's Sarah Dahlstrom, whose family founded the company. "We won't stop fighting for the timber industry. The music of the world, including the iconic Steinway & Sons pianos, depend on the promises made by the U.S. Forest Service."
Read more about the Alaskan logging fight and Steinway's made-in-New-York pianos:
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 13, 2026 17:36 ET (21:36 GMT)
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