ALASKA — Demand for lumber is pushing the state’s Division of Forestry to pitch the sale of old growth forest near El Capitan Passage on northern Prince of Wales Island. As KRBD’s Raegan Miller reports, a regional conservation group is arguing that the 340-acre sale could come at the expense of the island’s deer, fish and even tourism. The state’s Division of Forestry is proposing the sale, which would include clear-cutting eight million board feet of old-growth forest. That’s according to the preliminary best interest statement released late last month. And the division’s southeast area forester, Greg Staunton, said the timber industry has been struggling since the Biden administration paused old-growth logging in the Tongass. Timber industry jobs in the region fell to their lowest level on record last year, according to a recent report.