Court: N126, one of the largest Oregon logging projects in decades, needs more detailed study to safeguard environment, imperiled species

Eugene, OR — In response to a challenge brought by Cascadia Wildlands and the Western Environmental Law Center, an Oregon federal district court on Monday held that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) violated the law in authorizing the N126 Late Successional Reserve Landscape Plan Project. The parties have 30 days to agree on a remedy. 

The project, one of the largest Oregon public land logging proposals in decades, was slated to occur primarily in late successional reserves—areas intended for habitat protection and development for federally protected species. In May 2022, Cascadia Wildlands challenged the BLM for failing to complete an environmental impact statement for the massive project. The agency failed to consider impacts to species listed under the Endangered Species Act, dismissed dozens of environmental issues from consideration, and failed entirely to consider cumulative impacts of associated contemporaneous, overlapping and adjacent projects in the area.

“This victory will allow us to bring this project back in line with public values, like protecting mature and old-growth forests in the reserves,” said Nick Cady, legal director at Cascadia Wildlands. “It is disappointing that it takes these lengthy court cases to force the agency to actually consider the effects of all this proposed logging aside from timber volume, but the BLM has shown no desire to compromise absent a federal court order.”

Following exhaustive public comments pointed out problems with the proposed logging, extensive field checking and on-the-ground verification, and years of litigation, the court ruled that the heavy logging and extensive road building and renovation associated with this project involved significant and largely unanalyzed impacts in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act. Specifically, “BLM failed to provide a reasonably thorough discussion of the significant aspects of the effect of new road construction, repair, and haul routes; sediment delivery; and cumulative impacts” of adjacent and overlapping projects.

“This is one of the largest federally approved logging project on public land in Oregon in decades, and as the court rightly found, many of the Bureau of Land Management’s ‘findings of no significant impact’ don’t hold up under scrutiny,” said Sangye Ince-Johannsen, attorney at the Western Environmental Law Center. “This is a hard-fought victory, and the final phase still ahead will be decisive as we work to ensure continued protection for the rare and threatened wildlife that call the N126 project area home.”

“This is not just a legal victory, but also a testament to the longstanding community opposition and organizing against the BLM’s reckless logging,” said Madeline Cowen, grassroots organizer at Cascadia Wildlands. “In the face of a full-on assault against our bedrock environmental policies by the Trump administration, it is an important reminder that when we fight back, we win.”

Cascadia Wildlands is represented by attorneys from Cascadia Wildlands and the Western Environmental Law Center in this matter.

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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. www.cascwild.org

The Western Environmental Law Center uses the power of the law to foster thriving, resilient western lands, waters, wildlife, and communities in the face of a changing climate. As a public interest law firm, WELC does not charge clients and partners for services but relies instead on charitable gifts from individuals, families, and foundations to accomplish its mission. https://westernlaw.org/

The Court’s Opinion and Order can be found here.

Plaintiffs’ complaint can be found here.