ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Environmentalists in Alaska filed a lawsuit on Tuesday seeking to block a Trump administration plan to open vast swaths of the nation’s largest national forest to logging, nearly a third of it in old-growth timber.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, seeks to stop the U.S. Forest Service from going ahead with what opponents say would mark the largest sale of timber from the Tongass National Forest in 30 years under a plan the agency approved in March.

The court challenge argues that the sale would open old-growth woodlands on Prince of Wales Island in the Tongass to wide-scale logging without proper study of the environmental impact on what remains of North America’s largest temperate rain forest.

The timber sale was approved before the Forest Service had even identified specific sites where tree harvests and road-building would take place, the lawsuit said.

“This is a brazen attempt by the Forest Service to rewrite the rules for the forest, and it’s coming at the expense of habitat on Prince of Wales Island that’s important for wildlife and for people and communities, for hunting, fishing, recreation and tourism,” said Tom Waldo, an attorney for one of the plaintiffs, the environmental group Earthjustice.

The Forest Service had no immediate comment.

The sale would put as much as 656 million board feet of timber up for auction over several years, 235 million of which is old-growth timber, Waldo said.

The sale area occupies 2.2 million acres, most of that within the boundaries of the Tongass, he said. Overall, more than 42,000 acres could be logged under the plan, with the remaining acreage open to road construction and related activities, according to Waldo.

The Tongass sprawls over nearly 17 million acres of spruce- and hemlock-covered islands, rain-drenched coastline and mountains making up most of Alaska’s southeastern panhandle. It is renowned for its centuries-old trees, its abundant salmon runs and wildlife, including bears, wolves and eagles.

Timber industry supporters see the forest as a vast storehouse of valuable wood commodities.

The lawsuit represents the latest volley in clashes between conservation groups and commercial timber interests over management of the Tongass going back several decades. In 2016, the Obama administration ended old-growth logging in national forests.</s>ANCHORAGE — Eight environmental groups brought a federal complaint to block one of the largest logging projects in national forests in a generation, including thousands of acres of old-growth timber, in the Tongass National Forest.</s>Three men, three generations. All associated with the forests. Tree cheers!

 Being a forest officer is risky. But for Sambhaji S Ningani (54) , serving the forest is in his blood. For, his father too was in the forest department. 

 Sambhaji knew that his father led a tough life. Yet, he was inspired to take up forest service despite his family’s concerns. And his family was naturally worried as Sambhaji’s father Siddarayi Ningani, forest guard, died in the line of duty. He was just in his twenties when he was killed by sandalwood smugglers in an encounter.

Despite the tragic end of his father , Sambhaji too joined the forest service. Although his memories about his father are misty, Sambhaji says he was inspired by his father’s daring acts during those days when there were no gadgets to assist in patrolling duties. “He was a forest guard and was killed by sandalwood smugglers in 1973 in an encounter. I and my mother went to the nearby forests to identify his body thrown by the killers on the roadside. Our life turned topsy-turvy after this. My mother worked as a maid, a farm worker and sold grass as pension was not enough to run the family, pay our school fees or celebrate any festivals. In fact, I used to go to my friend’s place for studies and here I used to get food for the day. Further, I used to work in rice mills and iron sheds in the evenings,” he says.

After passing 10th standard, Sambhaji joined the forest department as a forest guard at Nagargali Range in Khanapur taluk in 1985. After working in various beats in the range, he was promoted as deputy range forest officer in 1992-93 and as RFO in 2005. Despite three more killings in this area and the family scared for his safety, he continued with his forest work with all zeal to tackle smugglers and clear encroachments. “My father gave his life and why shouldn’t I follow in his footsteps? I am not afraid of death. I have taken a vow to protect our natural heritage,” he asserts.

Gaining vast experience over a period of 25 years of service, he says all his knowledge of the forests has been gained on the field. Reviving forest wealth is his motto and the 22,000 saplings he planted in 150 hectares of the sandalwood Jalga plot have today resulted in a healthy growth. Being posted in an area known for its biodiversity of Western Ghats, he has been instrumental in taking action against forest encroachers and sandalwood smugglers.

Under the guidance of senior forest officials, he has played a key role in establishing anti-poaching camps and forest checkposts in sensitive forest areas of Khanapur taluk. Sambhaji says that in 2011 many politicians had purchased lands for mining and this area would have been reduced to a Ballari if Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary had not been notified.

 His service is punctuated with both joyous and sad moments. Recalling the famous Chikkamagaluru tiger release incident in Bhimgad in 2014, he says it was a challenging task as locals were determined to kill the tiger as it had killed a woman. “It was the saddest day of my life as the tiger had to be killed after it attacked another woman. We tried to convince people that it would be captured but passions were running high -- people had come to burn the range office and there was lot of political pressure on us to kill the tiger.”

Sambhaji is also known for taking up social causes --- when he was serving as DRFO in Nagargali Range, he had helped the police in nabbing the kidnappers of a college girl. He caught the kidnappers and handed them over to the police. In 2017. when a few girls from Goa on a trekking expedition in Chorla Ghats lost their way, he was responsible for their rescue and sending them back to their families.

 Carrying out educational and environmental awareness campaigns, Sambhaji encourages and supports schools, colleges, NGOs and villagers to protect the forests and their inhabitants. Not just this, he has taken the lead in providing compensation to victims and their families in wild animal attacks.

 Sambhaji’s mission is to increase forest wealth and protect it from encroachers, smugglers and poachers in his native land in Khanapur taluk. Many laurels and awards have come his way and recently, he won the Punyashree Award for his meritorious service and revival of water bodies and removal of forest encroachments in Belagavi district.

Wildlife activist Giridhar Kulkarni says, “The awareness programmes led by him on wildlife killings on rail tracks under the guidance of senior officials is one such maiden initiative in this region. He has conducted a dedicated quiz about wildlife and geography of Belagavi district for school students. He has been in the forefront taking up educational programmes on wildlife in this district.”

 Continuing the family tradition, Sambhaji’s son Shivanand (25) too is in forest service. He is a range forest officer in the Anechowkur range of Nagarhole.</s>Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The National Forestry Authority (NFA) is scaling up the implementation of Community Forest Management initiatives around major central forest reserves.

The initiative works in such a way that community groups are introduced to alternative sources of livelihoods as incentives for protecting forest resources. Such enterprises include piggery, beekeeping, eco-tourism and Nursery Tree planting amongst others.

The decision was based on a Pilot Community Forest Management Initiative which proved effective in reducing deforestation around 35 major central forest reserves in the country including Mabira Forest in Buikwe district.

According to the National Forestry Authority, blending protection with business enterprise development is critical in poverty reduction around the central forest reserves.

Stephen Galima, the Coordinator of the Natural Forests Management Unit at the National Forestry Authority says communities enrolled under Community Forest Management are provided with startup capital to engage in their enterprises in view of combating household poverty, thereby reducing the net pressure exerted on forest ecosystems.

Galima says that in cattle corridor regions, communities are given grazing permits to herd their livestock in central forest reserves while others benefit from proceeds derived from the sale of impounded forests products.

Currently, a number of Community Forest Management groups are participating in a USD 5 Million project by the World Bank to restore the degraded Mabira Forest landscape. Galima says they are planting Bamboo amongst others high-value tree species such as Mahogany to enrich the 2,000 hectares.

According to Galima, communities own the woodlots planted along the boundary or inside the central forest reserves. Other benefits include revenue from impounded forests produce which they share at 40 per cent while the government takes the rest.

Uganda is projected to lose its entire forest cover by 2050 unless the trend of deforestation is arrested and degraded landscapes restored. Most of the forests are destroyed for agriculture, charcoal burning and settlement.

Aisha Alibhai, the National Forestry Authority (NFA) Communications and Public Relations Manager says some community forest management groups have been trained in livelihood projects such as piggery and beekeeping for income generation by a number of non-government players.

New research conducted in Nepal by the University of Manchester says Community Forest Management initiatives reduce deforestation and poverty by up to 37 and 4.3 per cent respectively.

Aisha Alibhai agrees believes that the government should finance such initiatives in large scale to combat degradation of some of the major central forest reserves in the country. She says Community Forest Management is the right medicine for environmental degradation in Uganda.

Over the past four decades, governments and international organizations have actively promoted community-based forest initiatives as a way to merge natural resource conservation with human development. Local communities now legally manage approximately 13 per cent of the world’s forests.</s>BENGALURU: Residents of an apartment block, overlooking the Turahalli forest, woke up to a rude shock on Saturday morning when they found an earth mover entering the protected area. Scared that the famous lung space was on the path to destruction, they made frantic calls to the forest department for help.

“Our apartment is next to the forest and we can look into the area from our homes. In the morning, we saw an earth-mover entering the forest and clearing a pathway. This left us horrified. There are so many instances of lakes being encroached and we don’t want this for Turahalli so we called up the forest department,” said Shweta Tiwari, a resident of Sobha Forest View.

However, their fears were quickly put to rest by the department, which clarified, albeit orally, that the vehicle belonged to them and had been sent there to make a peripheral road for inspection of the forest area and for security measures to be deployed on site. “The moment we heard it was sent by the department, we heaved a sigh of relief. However, we have asked them to confirm the same in writing, which has not yet happened,” said Pooja S, another resident.

In the recent past, there was a fire in the forest, which has left residents around the area suspicious of any out of the ordinary activity. “We were scared if someone was upto some mischief again. The recent forest fire gave us shivers and we were really scared on Saturday as well. There are many animals in the forest and a fire is a threat to their lives,” said R Ram, another resident.

Explaining the work being carried out, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) Punati Sridhar said, “We are clearing the pathways to make a peripheral boundary for inspection and to beef up security in the forest. We are clearing the pathway without cutting down the trees. The machine only removed weeds. This is being done in most of the forests. The residents need not worry. It is being done for the benefit of the forest.”

Another forest official appreciated the prompt action by the residents and said, “It is good to see how the people are so connected with this forest. Even though there was no mishap, they thought of alerting us. This is how the citizens and department should work together.”
Multiple environmentalists groups file a lawsuit to stop the US Forest Service from opening up large tracts of the Tongass National Forest to logging, allegedly without a proper study of the environmental impact.