Dear Friend,

You can’t make this stuff up.

Last month we learned that not only is the Trump administration authorizing the logging of old-growth trees in Alaska, it is actually paying the timber industry up to $1.3 million to select which trees in these ancient forests it wants to log.

In other words, taxpayers like you and me are essentially writing checks to industry so they can cut down precious old-growth forests.

Documents obtained via the Freedom of Information Act and state record requests reveal a series of agreements linking the United States Forest Service, the Alaska Forest Association, and the Alaska Division of Forestry in a public-private partnership arrangement that ultimately grants logging companies first pick in the largest timber sale project undertaken in any national forest in more than 30 years. The timber sale, dubbed the Prince of Wales Landscape Level Analysis, is scheduled to take place over an area spanning roughly 1.8 million acres.

Last May, Earthjustice, on behalf of eight conservation groups, filed a lawsuit to stop this timber sale, because the Forest Service approved the sale before deciding where the trees would be cut.

Today, I am in court making oral arguments for this case, and with your support we will use the full force of the law to stop this reckless and shortsighted decision.

Approving this mammoth sale before even figuring out the details is irresponsible and unlawful, and we are fighting back in court.

We will keep you updated as we continue to hold this administration accountable. Thank you for your ongoing partnership.

Sincerely,