News

Cascadia Wildlands Joins Lawsuit to Protect Wild Salmon and Clean Water from Gold Mining

November 20, 2015 by nsc425

November 20, 2015 — To defend an Oregon law designed to protect wildlife from damaging gold mining along waterways, a broad coalition of groups moved to intervene today in a lawsuit by mining interests challenging the restrictions. Passed by the Oregon Legislature in 2013, Senate Bill 838 placed restrictions on gold mining using suction dredges and other motorized equipment along streams to prevent harmful impacts to salmon and develop a permitting process to better protect Oregon’s waterways. Miners are now alleging that the state law conflicts with federal laws passed in the 1800s to encourage westward expansion.

Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission Removes Protections for Imperiled Gray Wolf

November 10, 2015 by Josh

November 10, 2015 — In the face of overwhelming opposition from the public, political leaders, and the scientific community, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission voted last evening to remove the gray wolf from the state’s list of endangered species. There are approximately 80 wolves in the state.

Oregon Slammed for “Flawed” Scientific Basis for Wolf Delisting

October 29, 2015 by nsc425

October 29, 2015 — A group of leading independent scientists this week voiced their opposition to a plan to remove state protections from Oregon’s wolves, saying the estimated population of only 83 wolves cannot be considered recovered. The scientists identified significant flaws in a “population viability analysis” conducted by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife that claims wolves are at low risk of extinction.

Win on the Tongass: Forest Service Withdraws Mitkof Island Old-Growth Timber Sale

October 13, 2015 by Gabe

October 12, 2015 — In a federal court filing last Friday the U.S. Forest Service announced it will withdraw its decision on the Mitkof Island Project, a large 35 million board foot timber sale. The project is in the center of the Tongass National Forest, near the communities of Petersburg and Kupreanof.

Marching in Francis’ Army

September 24, 2015 by Josh

by Josh Laughlin, Executive Director I remember first meeting Francis Eatherington the day she rolled into an Earth First! road blockade high up on the Umpqua National Forest on her motorcycle. She was wearing a leather biking jacket, had a stack of timber sale maps under her arm, a compass dangling from her neck … Read more

Press Release: Josh Laughlin Hired as Executive Director of Cascadia Wildlands

September 10, 2015 by Josh

September 10, 2015 — The Cascadia Wildlands Board of Directors is excited to announce that Josh Laughlin has been hired as Executive Director of Eugene-based Cascadia Wildlands in a permanent capacity. Josh has been leading the organization as Interim Executive Director since January 2015.

Lawsuit Launched to Protect Northwest Prairie Bird Species

August 5, 2015 by nsc425

August 5, 2015 — Four conservation groups filed a formal notice of intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today seeking to strengthen protections for the streaked horned lark, which has lost 98 percent its grassland habitat. The lawsuit will challenge an October 2013 decision by the agency to protect the lark as “threatened” rather than the more protective “endangered” status and to exempt all agriculture, chemical spraying, and airport activities from the prohibitions of the Endangered Species Act regardless of whether they harm the lark.

Legal Battle Results in Protections for Alaska’s Tongass National Forest

July 29, 2015 by nsc425

August 29, 2015 — In a major victory for America’s last great rainforest, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit struck down a Bush administration exemption of the Tongass National Forest from the “Roadless Rule,” a landmark conservation rule adopted in 2001 to protect nearly 60 million acres of wild national forests and grasslands from new road building and logging. The Court held the Bush administration failed to provide a reasoned explanation for reversing course on the Tongass. It concluded the Roadless Rule “remains in effect and applies to the Tongass.”

Press Release: Cascadia Petitions for Emergency Action to Save Alaska Wolves

July 23, 2015 by Gabe

July 23, 2015 — Environmental groups today asked three state and federal agencies to take decisive action to save the rapidly dwindling population of Alexander Archipelago wolves in the Prince of Wales Island area in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest.

Blog: Loaf(er)ing around the North Umpqua

June 30, 2015 by Josh

by Jaclyn Hise and Amanda Martino, Cascadia Wildlands summer legal interns Our first overnight field excursion as summer interns was visiting the Loafer timber sale in the Umpqua National Forest in the southern Oregon Cascades near the Umpqua Hot Springs. The units to be logged span both sides of the North Umpqua River, … Read more

Press Release: Logging Industry Lawsuit Thrown out by Federal Appeals Court

June 12, 2015 by Josh

June 12, 2015 — A logging industry lawsuit that sought to force the Bureau of Land Management to increase logging on public lands in southwest Oregon was thrown out today by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. The ruling vacates a 2013 decision that would have forced the Bureau of Land Management to sell timber even when those sales would have harmed salmon and had detrimental impacts on water quality and recreation.

Lawsuit Challenges Plan to Log Old-growth Trees on Alaska’s Mitkof Island

May 5, 2015 by Gabe

May 4, 2015 — Five environmental organizations today challenged a plan to log the old-growth forests of Mitkof Island, near the Southeast Alaska community of Petersburg. The groups filed suit in Alaska District Court to overturn the U.S. Forest Service’s approval of this major logging project.

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