View of Mt. Hood from Lookout Mountain
The community organized against the sale, gathered over 5,000 signatures of residents opposed to the sale, and Cascadia Wildlands went to court to protect this highly prized area. We prevailed in District Court, and the Forest Service was ordered to conduct a more thorough analysis of the projects effects to the environment and involve the local community.
See more on this victory here.
We were excited about the victory, but remained cautious because the Forest Service had already entered contracts for the sale of the timber to industrial timber companies. We knew that these companies would not let the Forest Service off the hook. After a timber sale is invalidated by a court, the Forest Service has legal mechanisms to escape these contracts, but all too often we witness the Forest Service go through a paper exercise to attempt to satisfy the Court, and a regurgitation of the same archaic and illegal timber sale.
This is exactly was has happened with the Goose timber sale.
We are now again faced with this terrible and massive timber sale, but the good news is that the Forest Service is accepting objections to the project from the public into October. The Forest Service needs to be reminded that OUR forests are not beholden to the interests of the private industrial timber complex, especially those forests that shelter the critically important McKenzie River.
If you would like to help Cascadia through this process, please send us your stories, examples of the importance of this area to you personally. We will use these examples from our membership to demonstrate to the Forest Service that this area is cherished by many, and urge them to abandon the project. Just put GOOSE in the subject line of you email. Thanks so much, we will keep you updated on the project.