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Now the town of 800 is in turmoil over what some residents consider an uglier precedent - the first roadless timber sale in a U.S. national forest.

Though many in Yakutat have historic ties to the logging industry, the village is evenly divided over logging in the Situk River watershed, its most precious natural resource.

"If there is damage to the river, you might as well drop a bomb here, because Yakutat is done," said Greg Indreland, president of Yakutat Seafoods, the town's main seafood producer.

In 2001, the Situk watershed suffered a massive, 6,000-acre timber blowdown during a windstorm, which federal biologists believe was likely exacerbated by its large swaths of clearcuts.

District Ranger Patricia O'Connor said the downed logs are not susceptible to bark beetle infestation because of their advanced state of decomposition. The point of salvaging the wood is to generate income for the timber industry, she said. Much of it is sent to South Korea and used for crating, pallets and packaging.

Ketchikan-based Alcan Logging and its contractor, Craig-based Alaska Pacific Logging, hope to finish the salvage project by September, if a Yakutat Tlingit Tribe lawsuit fails to stop them.

Between the two salvage operations, the loggers expect to build 20 miles of temporary road.

Though the city has come out in favor of the timber sale, "clan leaders are really upset," said Yakutat tribal council member Ray Sensmeier. "They are concerned about the consequences for our children and grandchildren."

The 25-mile-long river is the lifeblood of Yakutat's fishing industry and subsistence life. At least 112 Yakutat residents are active set gillnetters and almost 75 percent of the fish processed by Yakutat Seafoods' 40 seasonal workers originates in the Situk.

"The town is divided in half over a very little timber sale," said Eric Nichols, a co-owner of Alcan Logging. The company is completing a much larger timber salvage operation in an adjacent but previously roaded area of the watershed.

"Why didn't they say anything on the first sale, which was four times bigger?" Nichols asked. "Why was this such a problem?"

If there is any simple answer, it would be that half of Yakutat is fed up with logging in the Situk watershed and the loggers' temporary roads, which are unofficially called "trench" roads.

Ranger O'Connor said the temporary roads - scraped out of the forest floor and then covered with trunks and woody debris once the logging is done - are not causing significant harm.

During the first salvage sale residents took photographs that appear to tell a different story.

"I have observed trench roads flowing with water as if they were actual streams," said Bill Lucie, a local wildlife biologist, in his affidavit for the Yakutat Tlingit Tribe's active lawsuit against the Forest Service to block the Coyuk project.

The photographs disturbed some tribal elders.

"Where are we going to go when the Situk runs dry?" asked Yakutat tribal elder Lena Farkus. "Just from the photographs, it looks terrible out there."

The Yakutat tribal council voted 3-2 to file suit against the Tongass National Forest to force it to redo the Coyuk sale with a more extensive environmental analysis, called an Environmental Impact Statement.

Publishing an EIS can require years of analysis. Instead, the Yakutat Ranger District had issued a 74-page Environmental Assessment, claiming the Coyuk sale would have no significant environmental effect.

"They should have done a full environmental study. They claim that they are going to obliterate these roads but there's absolutely no showing that it is going to work," said Tom Waldo, a Juneau-based attorney with Earthjustice, the environmental law firm representing the Yakutat tribe in the lawsuit.

Earthjustice lawyers point to some of the Forest Service's own documents for the Coyuk sale as evidence.

"Many closed temporary roads (in the project area) are still largely bare of vegetation," according to the Coyuk sale's 2004 watershed resources report.

Though the Yakutat City Assembly voiced some early concerns about the Coyuk sale, also known as the Yakutat Salvage Sale II Project, it declined to join the tribal suit.

Yakutat city planner Skip Ryman said Yakutat Borough officials believe the timber salvage project is responsible economic development.

He added, "Our position right now is that it is in compliance with state rules ... there are people who disagree with that."

Nichols, of Alcan Logging, said he is in the awkward position of not know how best to mobilize his logging contractors during the pending suit.

Though an Alaska district judge allowed Alaska Pacific Logging to continue salvage operations while he deliberates on the tribe's case, "I cannot plan because we are under litigation," Nichols said.

"If we get shut down, we're leaving," Nichols said, adding, "There are several million dollars worth of wood that may be impacted."

For decades, the Situk River - a birthplace for all five Alaska salmon species and a legendary steelhead run - has been a focal point for cultural conflict and environmental uncertainty.

Far from the pristine roadless condition one might imagine, its headwaters have been logged and roaded for decades by the Forest Service and Yakutat's Native corporation, Yak-Tak Kwaan, which has since suspended logging operations.

"It's not traditional roadless, because it's completely surrounded by roads," said Owen Graham, executive director of the Alaska Forest Association.

At least half of Yakutat doesn't mind the logging.

Yakutat Lodge and charter operator Ken Fanning said he used to worry about the 1980s-era clearcuts in the Situk River watershed but he hasn't seen major consequences.

"We've floated the river and worked the (Situk) lake for the last 30 years. I just keep seeing things get better," Fanning said.

Last year was a record year for the Situk steelhead run, with more than 10,000 fish returning to the Situk.

Yakutat business owners are seeing some economic benefit from the salvage logging, as well.

Few Yakutat residents have taken jobs with the logging companies. But nonresident loggers are spending money in local grocery stores and bars, Fanning said.

Some other Yakutat tour operators, fishermen and even the longshoremen who will receive a paycheck from putting the timber on massive log ships are aligned with the tribal council's majority.

Sensmeier, the tribal council member, noted that all of Yakutat's 30-odd Native log ship workers signed a petition against further logging in the Situk watershed, even though it would mean giving up future paychecks.

The tribe's president is feeling deep ambiguity about the case, to the frustration of some elders and tribal council members.

"We are kind of standing all by ourselves on this," said Bert Adams Sr., president of the Yakutat tribe, who said he acted on the lawsuit at the behest of the majority of the tribal council and not of his personal volition.

But Sensmeier said it is essential to preserve the Situk, which remains a sacred place for the tribe.

"We're trying to protect our ancestral land," he said.

• Elizabeth Bluemink can be reached at elizabeth.bluemink@juneauempire.com.