Court Stops Fed’s Destructive Logging Plan

Eugene, OR — In response to a challenge brought by conservation organizations, on Friday, a federal district court halted logging across Late Successional Reserve forests (LSRs) within the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) 42 Divide Project near Camas Valley, Oregon. LSRs are areas designated for protection and development of old-growth habitat and conservation of imperiled species. The Court found likely violations of federal environmental laws and irreparable harm stemming from the project and ordered a stop to logging operations in the LSRs until this case can be fully heard on the merits.

“The public depends on these forests; how the BLM chooses to manage these forests has lasting consequences for local communities as well as the imperiled wildlife that call them home,” said Peter Jensen, Staff Attorney at Cascadia Wildlands. “We are pleased that the Court has halted logging until our clients and the forest can have their day in Court.”

“Like many BLM-managed forests, units of the 42 Divide timber sale are scattered through the community of Camas Valley, sometimes directly adjacent to people’s homes. While we’re glad the court halted all the logging in LSRs, logging in the Harvest Land Base will move forward, even though BLM acknowledges it will increase fire risk for the community,” said Brenna Bell from the Crag Law Center, who is the lead attorney on this case, “We’ll keep fighting in court to get BLM to fully commit to addressing the adverse impacts to public health and safety caused by this project.”   

BLM’s 42 Divide Project, which spans nearly 7,000 acres in western Douglas County, authorized logging across multiple land designations, including the Harvest Land Base (HLB) and LSRs. Plaintiffs alleged the project would decimate wildlife habitat and old-growth conditions where it exists today and prevent the forest from developing those conditions where they are not yet present due to the severity of the logging treatments. The Court agreed with Plaintiffs that BLM’s analysis left serious questions about how the project would maintain and develop forest conditions across LSRs in the Project Area, as required by its own management plan. 

“LSRs are for conservation. Yet again BLM has sought to squeeze commercial timber volume out of every inch of our public lands, including protected reserves,” said Janice Reid, Conservation Chair for Umpqua Watersheds. “It’s unfortunate that BLM so consistently deprioritizes all other uses of our public forests in the name of heavy industrial logging.”

“The forests in the 42 Divide area are extremely diverse and offer important habitat for many wildlife species, habitat that has already been reduced and heavily fragmented by industrial logging,” said Chandra LeGue with Oregon Wild. “The remaining mature and old-growth forests in this area deserve protections from the kind of aggressive logging favored by the Trump administration. This ruling is an important recognition that BLM cannot ignore environmental policies that protect our wildlife, water sources, and other community values,” LeGue added.  

The Court did not resolve questions about the merits of Plaintiffs’ claims centered around the interplay of BLM’s selected logging methods and increased wildfire risks, and uncertainty about the outcomes of this wildfire season remain. But today, with the Court’s order, the majority of the destructive logging within this Project area is enjoined while the legal case proceeds. 

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Cascadia Wildlands, Oregon Wild and Umpqua Watersheds were represented by attorneys from Cascadia Wildlands and Crag Law Center. 

Eugene-based Cascadia Wildlands defends and restores Cascadia’s wild ecosystems in the forests, in the courts, and in the streets. The organization envisions vast old-growth forests, rivers full of wild salmon, wolves howling in the backcountry, a stable climate, and vibrant communities sustained by the unique landscapes of the Cascadia bioregion. 

Oregon Wild’s mission is to protect and restore Oregon’s wildlands, wildlife, and water as an enduring legacy for future generations. 

Umpqua Watersheds is dedicated to the protection and restoration of the ecosystems of the Umpqua watershed and beyond through education, training, advocacy, and ecologically sound stewardship. 

The Court’s Order enjoining the project can be found here. 

Plaintiffs’ legal complaint can be found here.