Thanks in large part to heavy pressure from our BioGems Defenders, an Oregon-based wood products company has withdrawn from negotiations to reopen the Ketchikan veneer mill in southeast Alaska. BioGems Defenders recently sent the Timber Products Company nearly 60,000 messages to protest its plans to revive the mill, which would increase demand for wood from Alaska's Tongass National Forest, a vital rainforest habitat for wild salmon, bald eagles and the Sitka black-tailed deer. Late last year, the Forest Service used the potential reopening of the mill to justify removing federal restrictions on roadbuilding and logging in pristine areas of the forest.

NRDC's BioGems News, June 2004