July 2, 2012 — The State of Oregon has suspended operations on 10 timber sales in marbled murrelet habitat one month after Cascadia Wildlands, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Audubon Society of Portland filed a lawsuit alleging the state’s logging practices in the Tillamook, Clatsop, and Elliott State Forests are illegally “taking” the imperiled seabird in violation of the Endangered Species Act. To prevent additional murrelet habitat from being lost while the case works its way through the court system, the conservation groups filed an injunction request in federal court to halt sales and logging in the occupied murrelet habitat pending the outcome of the lawsuit.
Press Release: Big Timber Manufactures Timber Volume Crisis in Western Oregon
June 21, 2012 — With a new plan for Bureau of Land Management (BLM) forests in western Oregon currently in the works, conservationists today pointed to new harvest data from the agency that shows a steady flow of timber is moving off of federal forest lands. The official numbers contradict claims made by timber industry lobbyists and local politicians that little logging is occurring on BLM and National Forest lands.
Cascadia Sues to Protect Seabird
May 31, 2012 — Cascadia Wildlands, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Audubon Society of Portland filed a lawsuit today in federal court charging that the State of Oregon’s clearcutting practices illegally harm threatened marbled murrelets within the Tillamook, Clatsop and Elliott state forests in violation of the Endangered Species Act. The conservation organizations are calling on Gov. John Kitzhaber to develop a plan for state forests that will adequately protect the rare seabirds that spend most of their lives on the ocean but come inland to nest and breed in mature and old-growth forests.