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The U.S. Forest Service and Southeast environmental groups settled recently on the terms of a timber sale in the Tongass National Forest without going to court.

"I don't think anyone here in recent memory can remember something like this," said Tongass spokesman Phil Sammon. "So this is a great thing."

Most Tongass timber sales are appealed. But usually they're resolved after a lawsuit. Iyouktug's compromise was so unusual that the groups weren't quite sure at first what the proper procedures were, according to Southeast Alaska Conservation Council Executive Director Russell Heath.

The Sitka Conservation Society and the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, a coalition of 15 local conservation groups, appealed the Iyouktug timber sale in June.

Their main point was that the 41.8 million board-feet offered on Chichagof Island was too big for local mills to buy.

Wes Tyler of Icy Straits Lumber Mill in Hoonah currently uses about 1 million board-feet of timber a year.

SEACC and the Sitka Conservation Society argued the only way that sale would be economical would be for a large company from outside Alaska to ship round logs overseas. The groups claim the Forest Service has consistently overestimated market demand for Tongass timber.

They consulted with Tyler on the appeal to find out what they had in common.

"We wanted to make sure the sale would work for the local mills in Hoonah," Heath said.

After correspondence and meetings, the Forest Service agreed in early August not to reduce the amount of timber, but to divide the sale into smaller, 1-2 million board-feet chunks, most of which would be delayed. The initial timber sales would be tailored in size to local processing capacity, the agency said.

If about 2 million board-feet is offered a year, Tyler may be able to double his volume.

"We are a local business providing jobs in our local community. We feel we can compete for this sale and process the wood to supply high-value wood products for the building industry," Tyler said in a statement issued this week with the forest agency and the conservation groups.

Other parts of the appeal were resolved as well. The conservation groups argued in their appeal that the sale would offer certain chunks of habitat too important to cut. The Forest Service dropped some units from the initial sale, and modified the boundaries or the type of logging allowed in others. The agency also agreed to do some thinning and restoration work in old clearcuts.

The groups withdrew those parts of their appeals, and reserve the right to sue on other parts that were denied.

Pro-habitat and pro-timber groups have had trouble talking outside the courtroom in the past. But both sides on Iyouktug pointed to the Tongass Futures Roundtable as a foundation for an improved relationship. Twice a year, various Tongass stakeholders gather and talk out their concerns in a nonconfrontational environment.

"I think it's good that they're putting up timber for the mill there in Hoonah," said Owen Graham of the Ketchikan-based Alaska Forest Association. "I wish they'd put up more."

He noted that recent timber sales have left Southeast's mills starved for timber. They have a capacity of about 200 million board-feet, and last year they processed around 40 million board-feet, he said.

• Contact reporter Kate Golden at 523-2276 or kate.golden@juneauempire.com.