1- In the spring of this year the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) vacated permits for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) pipeline and an LNG terminal at Coos Bay, Oregon.

 

2- This spring the Imnaha Wolf Pack gave birth to seven pups.

 

3- This summer the Umpqua National Forest removed roughly 700 miles of roads from consideration for opening to vehicle traffic under the revision of their travel management plan.

 

4- This summer wildlife and visitors to the Elliott State Forest experienced something rare: Quiet—no chainsaw and no heavy equipment noise.  

 

 

We wish that our progress on these four areas and others solved everything, but that is not the case.  With each victory we seem to be visited by a new and oftentimes more daunting challenge.  We and others caused FERC to vacate permits for an import pipeline and terminal at Coos Bay.  Months later a materially similar proposal to export LNG emerged that includes the dangerous practice of “fracking” in the Rockies.  So we add this toxic chemical soup to this list of threats we already face on this project such as clearcuts in forest reserves, compromised salmon habitat, hundreds of miles of pipeline construction so that Asian industries gain access to our natural resources and are better able to wrestle manufacturing jobs away from our shores.

 

Not only that but right on the heels of the new LNG scheme a proposal springs forth to build a 10 million ton a year coal terminal at Coos Bay too (see lead article in fall issue of Cascadia Quarterly).  This plan to ship underpriced coal from federal lands in the Powder River Basin to state-owned power plants in Korea will require mile and 1/3 long coals trains that will shut down traffic and shower our communities, wildlands, and waters with deadly diesel particulates including nano-particles and also coal dust.  With roughly 18 million metric tons of CO2 in the offing in addition to more sulfur, nitrogen, and mercury pollution shipped back to us in the trade-off, we simply cannot sit idle on this one either—the implications for climate change and ocean acidification are absolutely staggering.

 

Likewise, our Oregon wolf lawsuit stopped Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife from killing wolves in the absence of well-defined rules.  That has meant two more litters of pups for the Imnaha pack with seven this year from the pack that gave us Journey (OR-7)—the first wolf to venture into California in 90 years.  But there is no rest or respite for us as this season also brought us the Wedge Pack tragedy in northeastern Washington State.  We will not allow this failure on the part of Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) to be for nothing.  We will make sure that agency (WDFW) remembers the Wedge and their failure to protect the species in their charge.  

 

The 700 mile road reprieve for the Umpqua is really spectacular, but our celebrations are short-lived as we launch efforts to stop the northward migration of suction dredge miners who were kicked out of California and now want to use their motorized equipment to tear up river and stream bottoms in our precious Rogue and Umpqua watersheds.  Our endangered salmon and steelhead do not need this type of activity in what is essentially their “recovery room.”  So we are taking this on too.

 

The victory in the Elliott whether temporary or permanent was sweet particularly for marbled murrelets and other mature forest dwellers.  The state’s voluntary cessation of timber sales in the Elliott as well as the Clatsop and Tillamook forests has to be a huge relief for wildlife and state forest visitors treated to silence.  But we know that this is very likely the calm before the storm.  Big Timber and their allies want to use our current economic crisis and the wretched fiscal condition of our western Oregon counties as a political lever to return to 1980s style clearcutting on state and federal lands.  We simply cannot let this happen.

 

Clearly we cannot afford to rest on our laurels.  And we are not.  What changes are we making to address the above?  First, we hope that you have noticed our revised website including our blog to better inform and organize our several thousand activists and partners.  These website improvements and our enhanced use of social media are further cementing our position as a respected and listened to grassroots powerhouse.  We are also building our program side with the addition of a new attorney in Alaska (Gabe Scott our long-time Alaska representative passed the bar this summer).  And working harder on more issues than ever before (please visit the “Campaign” section of our website).

 

We also cannot afford to not ask you again for support.  We have lots of work to do and we need your generous contributions to get it done.  So please give a gift  or enroll in our monthly donor program.  Either of these avenues work and will help.

 

Please make a wise and wild investment in Cascadia Wildlands and our shared vision of vast old-growth forests, rivers full of wild salmon, wolves howling in the backcountry, and vibrant communities sustained by the unique landscapes of the Cascadia bioregion.

 

 

Bob Ferris

Executive Director