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For thousands of years, black wolves have roamed the snow-covered islands of southeast Alaska’s Alexander Archipelago. But even in this remote stretch of more than 1,000 islands and glaciated peaks, Alexander Archipelago wolves have been no match for industrial logging, road building and overharvest.
Right now the Forest Service is about to close a deal on the Big Thorne timber sale, with logging planned for more than 6,000 acres of prime old-growth habitat for wolves, Sitka black-tailed deer, black bears, Queen Charlotte goshawks, flying squirrels, marten and other imperiled species.
Alexander Archipelago wolves can’t coexist indefinitely with clearcut logging: The wolf population is directly connected to the health of black-tailed deer, which in turn is directly tied to the health of the old-growth forests. And as road density increases, so do wolf kills — both legal and illegal. In the Tongass National Forest logging roads provide access for wolf hunters and trappers, and road density on much of Prince of Wales Island is already beyond sustainable levels.
Dr. David Person, the preeminent Alexander Archipelago wolf biologist, has bluntly concluded that “the Big Thorne timber sale, if implemented, represents the final straw that will break the back of a sustainable wolf-deer predator-prey ecological community on Prince of Wales Island.”
Take action below — tell the Forest Service to drop Big Thorne now: http://action.biologicaldiversity.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=15803
Exposing the Big Game 
I friggin’ hate the $$ and attitudes that have resulted in this kind of crapp. So Jim, are yu heading to the wolf extravaganza in Yellowstone,, June 28?
I guess this is what the government calls ‘managing the public lands for our mutual benefit’, does it? Old growth forest should be off limits, especially in these times of climate change and overpopulation, and we should find another resource to build our hovels with, like out of man-made materials.