Trump Is Thwarted by Court in Bid to Log Biggest National Forest

Conservation groups scored a major win over the Trump administration’s effort to log old-growth trees in southeast Alaska, after a court deemed unlawful a federal plan for the iconic Tongass National Forest.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska on Wednesday ruled that the Forest Service violated multiple federal laws when it approved a broad management blueprint that would authorize future logging in the temperate rainforest without site-specific environmental review.

The agency plan in question focused on Prince of Wales Island, part of the Tongass that’s home to many Alaska Natives.

The ruling is a critical victory for ...