The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is planning a new logging project just a few miles east of the community of Alsea. The Aloha Trout project would log and build new roads through 1,800 acres of public forest in the middle of Oregon’s Coast Range. While some of the project area is relatively young, previously clearcut forest, the area also holds several pockets of lush older forest and legacy trees that reach 130 years old or more. Honey Grove and Seeley Creeks meander through the project area, serving as habitat for imperiled coastal coho and Chinook salmon, steelhead, and Pacific lamprey.
At the Aloha Trout Project You are Likely to See:
- Members of the local community gathering edible mushrooms, walking trails, or simply enjoying the forest.
- Salmon, beat up and scarred from years battling in the ocean, finally making it upstream to spawn in Honey Grove Creek, a waterway that has timber sale units on all sides.
- Forests growing and recovering from intense clearcuts of the past.
Logging and road building put forested watersheds at risk by disturbing soils and adding sediment to streams, increasing fire risk, introducing invasive weeds, and damaging habitat for imperiled fish and wildlife species. The Bureau of Land Management must fully weigh these impacts and make efforts to work with communities directly impacted by logging projects put forward to meet the agency’s timber targets. Send a message to the Bureau of Land Management urging the agency to develop a version of the project that would avoid these lasting impacts. Be sure to customize your comment for the greatest impact–if you have special ties to the area, let the Bureau of Land Management know!
Thank you for advocating for the critters and communities of Cascadia.