Forest Service Eyes Tourism Zones in Alaska's Tongass, Seeks Input by May 6

The U.S. Forest Service unveiled a draft outline for revising the Tongass National Forest Plan, proposing to designate recreation areas as either high commercial use or low commercial use to guide permits for tour operators. This aims to simplify the current plan's more than a dozen land-use designations into a handful of management areas, addressing tourism growth in Southeast Alaska communities like Ketchikan, Sitka and Juneau. Forest Service spokesperson Miranda emphasized the need to organize the vast 17-million-acre forest more efficiently amid rising visitor demand.

Public comment on the draft closes May 6, 2026, with the agency partnering with Spruce Root on a survey for feedback submission. Community meetings occurred throughout April in Southeast towns, hosted by groups like Sustainable Southeast Partnership, Juneau Economic Development Council and Southeast Conference, offering online forms for remote participation. Beyond tourism zones, input is sought on old-growth forests, key fisheries watersheds and community use areas critical to Alaska Native corporations and local economies driven by timber, fishing and recreation.

A full draft plan is slated for release by year's end, launching a 90-day comment period, followed by an environmental impact statement and draft record of decision in 2027 with a 60-day objection window. The final plan is expected in 2028. Industry voices, including a 2018 open letter from tourism businesses, have long urged proactive infrastructure like self-sustaining recreation sites to boost capacity in the Tongass, where tourism rivals fishing as an economic pillar.