Category: Press Room

A man stands by a tall tree.

Conservation Groups Challenge Bureau of Land Management SW Oregon Old-Growth Timber Sale

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE. November 19, 2024 Contact:Nick Cady, Cascadia Wildlands, (314) 482-3746George Sexton, Conservation Director KS Wild 541-778-8120 gs@kswild.orgJohn Persell, Staff Attorney, Oregon Wild 503-896-6472 jp@oregonwild.org EUGENE, OR. Today forest conservation organizations filed a legal challenge in Medford federal district court challenging the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) latest old-growth timber sale located in the Cascade foothills east of … Continue reading Conservation Groups Challenge Bureau of Land Management SW Oregon Old-Growth Timber Sale

Cascadia Wildlands staff admire an old-growth tree at the Blue & Gold sale (photo by Cascadia Wildlands).

Lawsuit Launched to Prevent Old-Growth Logging in Oregon Coast Range

Former Agency Personnel Allege Feds Misrepresented Forest Age, Avoided Imperiled Wildlife Detection FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASESeptember 27, 2024 Contact:    Nick Cady, Legal Director, Cascadia Wildlands (314) 482-3746 | nick@cascwild.org                 Meriel Darzen, Staff Attorney, Crag Law Center (503) 525-2725 | meriel@crag.orgJohn Persell, Staff Attorney, Oregon Wild (541) 344-0675 | … Continue reading Lawsuit Launched to Prevent Old-Growth Logging in Oregon Coast Range

Press Release: Ninth Circuit Upholds Conservationists’ Efforts to Stop Coastal Old-Growth Logging

June 26, 2024 — Today, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a 2022 ruling from the District Court of Oregon that prevents Scott Timber Co. from clearcutting old-growth forest within Oregon’s Elliott State Forest. The court held that the proposed logging of the 355-acre Benson Ridge parcel by the subsidiary of Roseburg Forest Products would harm threatened marbled murrelets in violation of the federal Endangered Species Act. The case marks the first time a private timber company has been held to account in court for potential violations of the federal Endangered Species Act in Oregon.

Press Release: Lawsuit Launched to Protect Oregon’s Red Tree Voles 

June 20, 2024 — Conservation groups informed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today that they intend to sue over the agency’s denial of Endangered Species Act protections to the imperiled North Oregon Coast population of red tree voles. The Service’s decision to deny protections in February echoes a 2019 Trump administration denial, which was made despite several previous findings that protection was warranted. North Coast voles are threatened by logging and climate change-fueled wildfires. 

Press Release: Court Protects Old-Growth Reserves from Fed’s Logging Scheme

May 28, 2024 — In response to a challenge brought by conservation organizations, on Friday a federal district court found that the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) violated the law with its “Integrated Vegetation Management” (IVM) program, which proposed aggressive logging in forest areas set aside for forest conservation.

Press Release: Oregon’s Wolf Population Stagnates

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 12, 2024

Eugene, OR — Today the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) revealed Oregon’s wolf population did not grow in 2023. The stagnation in the wolf population marks the worst year for wolves in Oregon since the species began returning to the state in 2008 after decades of absence. This concerning news for Oregon wolves caps a multi-year trend of very low population growth: the 2022 minimum wolf count was 178, just three wolves more than the 2021 year-end count of 175, which itself was just two wolves more than 2020’s minimum count of 173. Oregon’s wolf population has grown less than 3% in the past four year combined.

Press Release: Groups Challenge BLM Commercial Logging in Conservation Reserve

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 27, 2024

Medford Oregon —Today a coalition of conservation organizations again filed a legal complaint challenging the Medford District Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) efforts to aggressively log forest stands located outside of Gold Hill, Oregon. The Rogue Gold Forest Management Project (“Rogue Gold”) authorizes heavy commercial logging within Late Successional Reserves, areas expressly set aside for old forest conservation. The BLM is targeting mature and old-growth forests that are fire-resilient and provide important habitat for at-risk wildlife species. BLM admits that the purpose of the heavier logging prescriptions being authorized is the generation of commercial timber volume despite locating these logging activities within areas set aside for conservation, called Late Successional Reserves.

Press Release: Cascadia Wildlands Statement on Board of Forestry Decision to Advance a Habitat Conservation Plan for Western Oregon State Forests

March 8, 2024 — The Oregon Board of Forestry made a historic decision to move forward with a Habitat Conservation Plan for 640,000 acres of western Oregon state forests at its March 7th meeting in Salem. Voting 4-3 in favor of directing Oregon Department of Forestry to move forward with the draft Habitat Conservation Plan, the agency will now finalize the plan to establish a network of habitat and riparian conservation areas across roughly 300,000 acres of state forests and await federal approval. The department will also continue developing a new Forest Management Plan to guide implementation of the Habitat Conservation Plan.