Mendenhall Glacier Tourist Facility Revamp Handed Court Setback

The US Forest Service improperly approved a visitor facility improvement project near the Mendenhall Glacier based on a “preordained” tourism rate increase, a federal judge said.

The US District Court for the District of Alaska disagreed with the agency’s interpretation of the Tongass Land and Resource Management Plan’s directive to manage the glacier area “principally for recreation.”

Partially scrapping the decision Tuesday, the court ruled that the agency wrongly presumed the phrase to mean accommodating for as many visitors as possible.

Judge Sharon L. Gleason said the Forest Service’s National Environmental Policy Act review unreasonably narrowed project alternatives to only ...