Contact:    
Nick Cady, Legal Director, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 434-1463          
Noah Greenwald, Center for Biological Diversity
Quinn Read, Bird Alliance of Oregon

Clearcutting plans halted to protect threatened seabird within former Elliott State Forest parcel

Eugene, OR — 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.

“After a decade of advocacy, the rare old-growth in Benson Ridge is at last protected from private industry chainsaws,” said Nick Cady, legal director at Cascadia Wildlands. “This ruling is significant for the imperiled marbled murrelet and will hopefully dissuade land managers from logging the little remaining coastal old-growth forest in the state.”

The 82,000-acre Elliott State Forest, located near Coos Bay, has been mired in controversy for over a decade. In 2012, following a decision by the state of Oregon to significantly increase logging levels on the Elliott, Cascadia Wildlands, the Center for Biological Diversity and Bird Alliance of Oregon (formerly Portland Audubon) sued the state for illegally logging occupied marbled murrelet habitat on the Elliott and other state forests. After a judge issued a legal injunction, the state settled the suit in 2014, agreeing to drop 26 timber sales and stop logging in occupied murrelet habitat.

Following the settlement, however, the state sold the Benson Ridge parcel and two other tracts, totaling 1,453 acres, even though they contained mature and old-growth forests that were occupied by imperiled marbled murrelets. Prior to the finalization of the sales, the timber purchasers were specifically warned by the three conservation organizations that logging these forests would violate the federal Endangered Species Act. The state finalized the sales regardless.

“I’m absolutely thrilled that the marbled murrelets of Benson Ridge are safe from logging,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “This court victory makes it clear that timber companies are no more exempt from ending the extinction crisis that plagues these enduring seabirds than the rest of us.”

The Benson Ridge case was originally filed in August 2016 claiming violations of the federal Endangered Species Act, which strictly prohibits “take” (statutorily defined as including harm, harassment or killing) of threatened species like the marbled murrelet. Unlike any other seabird, murrelets nest on the wide, mossy branches of large, old-growth trees, making a daily trip of up to 35 miles inland to bring fish to their young.

“This entire Elliott State Forest saga demonstrates the incredible cynicism that underpins the treatment of mature and old-growth forests in Oregon,” said Bird Alliance of Oregon conservation director, Quinn Read. “Land managers, both public and private, continue to try to convert these rare old forests into timber plantations. This is not only ecologically devastating but illegal.”

The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court holding stating: “…the Benson Tract is occupied and used for nesting by marbled murrelets, the logging operation would eliminate 49 acres of this occupied habitat, and the clearcut would remove nests and prevent returning murrelets from nesting or engaging in other breeding-related activities there…” and noted how the District Court explained  “the timber harvest would directly fragment a continuous stand of occupied forest and, using scientific studies, [demonstrated] how this fragmentation would foreseeably and negatively impact the murrelets’ breeding behaviors.” Opinion at 25.

“This case exemplifies the vital importance of citizen suits in our fight to save the planet. The State of Oregon knew the Marbled Murrelet used this land, but sold it anyways to be clearcut. The Federal Government knew the Marbled Murrelet used the Benson Ridge tract for nesting and reproduction, yet took no action to stop Scott Timber Company’s logging plans. Only through the decades-long effort of these public interest organizations was this land and its nesting Marbled Murrelets protected – in perpetuity – from devastation. Moving forward, timber companies should pay close attention to the existence of Marbled Murrelets on their property, as we certainly will be,” said Daniel Synder of Public Justice.

In addition to winning the Benson Ridge case, the organizations successfully legally challenged the other Elliott privatization efforts with a separate lawsuit.

In recent years, a diversity of stakeholders have successfully worked to “decouple” the Elliott State Forest from the Common School Fund through a series of legislative appropriations and transition it into the Elliott State Research Forest. No longer is there an obligation to clearcut the Elliott to fund public schools in Oregon, and the forest will now be managed with an emphasis on older forest conservation and research.

The conservation organizations were represented by Daniel Kruse of Kruse & Saint Marie LLC, Daniel Snyder of Public Justice, Nick Cady of Cascadia Wildlands and Brian Segee of the Center for Biological Diversity.

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Cascadia Wildlands works on behalf of its over 15,000 members and supporters to defend and restore Cascadia’s wild ecosystems in the forests, in the courts, and in the streets. 

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.1 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

Bird Alliance of Oregon (formerly Portland Audubon) was founded in 1902 to promote the understanding, enjoyment and protection of native birds, other wildlife and their habitats. Today, it represents over 16,000 members in Oregon.

Founded in January 1982, Public Justice (originally Trial Lawyers for Public Justice) is a nonprofit legal advocacy organization that takes on purveyors of corporate corruption, sexual abusers and harassers, and polluters who ravage the environment.

The post Press Release: Ninth Circuit Upholds Conservationists’ Efforts to Stop Coastal Old-Growth Logging first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Portland, OR — 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. 

“We need protections for these ridiculously cute red tree voles, who spend virtually their entire lives in the tops of big trees, eating conifer needles,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species program director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s not rocket science that when these trees are logged or burned, tree voles die. On Oregon’s North Coast, decades of rampant clearcutting have nearly wiped out the vole’s populations.”   

Red tree voles build their nests on complex branch and bole structures found in old growth forest. The North Coast is dominated by a combination of private industrial timberlands and the Tillamook and Clatsop state forests. Decades of rapacious clearcut logging, as well a series of historic fires known as the Tillamook Burn, have eliminated the vast majority of the area’s old forests, along with the red tree voles that once called them home. 

“Red tree voles are a harbinger of the health of our forests; they are suffering the negative impacts of decades of mismanagement,” said Bethany Cotton, conservation director with Cascadia Wildlands. “It’s long past time for the agency tasked with safeguarding imperiled species to do its job and provide these adorable forest dwellers with the protections they need to recover.” 

Remaining North Coast voles are concentrated on federal lands administered by the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Although the Northwest Forest Plan helps protect these remaining small and isolated populations, the long-term survival of the voles depends on improving state and private land forest management.  

The state forests are in the process of adopting a habitat conservation plan that will provide some protection to the vole. But the plan will also allow continued logging of thousands of acres of potential vole habitat without any surveys to determine if the species is present. The tree vole currently has no protections on private forests.  

“The red tree vole, and the diverse older forests it inhabits, are vital to the survival of northern spotted owls, wild salmon and countless other species,” said Danielle Moser, wildlife program manager for Oregon Wild. “These forests and wildlife are a critical part of Oregon’s natural heritage, and they should be protected as a legacy for future generations; not destroyed for short-term profit.” 

In response to a 2007 Center petition, the Service determined in 2011 that protection of the North Oregon Coast population of red tree voles was “warranted but precluded.” It then moved the voles to a list of candidate species for a decade until it reversed course and denied protections in 2019. A Center lawsuit over the denial resulted in a 2022 settlement directing the Service to reconsider the decision. 

“Red tree voles (everyone’s favorite tree hamsters) are threatened by logging and wildfire, yet the Fish and Wildlife Service has gone to great lengths to contradict its own findings that this species deserves protection,” said Quinn Read, conservation director at Bird Alliance of Oregon. “Red tree voles don’t have time for bureaucratic delays — the agency must do its job to protect this species and its forest habitat.” 

Today’s notice of intent was sent by the Center for Biological Diversity, Bird Alliance of Oregon, Cascadia Wildlands and Oregon Wild.  

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Cascadia Wildlands defends and restores Cascadia’s wild ecosystems in the forests, in the courts, and in the streets. 

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.7 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.  

Bird Alliance of Oregon was founded in 1902 and works statewide to advocate for Oregon’s wildlife and wild places, and to inspire all people to love and protect birds, wildlife, and the natural environment upon which life depends.  

The post Press Release: Lawsuit Launched to Protect Oregon’s Red Tree Voles  first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Contacts:
Nick Cady, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 434-1463
Oliver Stiefel, Crag Law Center, Lead Counsel
Doug Heiken, Oregon Wild
Travis Williams, Willamette Riverkeeper

Judge Halts Willamette National Forest Roadside Logging Project

Finds Agency Overreached in Using Rule for Routine Maintenance for Massive Logging Project

EUGENE, OR – Today for the second time this year, a federal court halted U.S. Forest Service (Forest Service) plans to carry out extensive post-fire roadside logging. In granting a preliminary injunction, the court stopped planned commercial logging along 400 miles of roads within the Willamette National Forest. Federal District Judge Michael McShane’s order states: “Given the immense scale of this Project, which allows the felling of trees along 404 miles of forest roads, Plaintiffs [Cascadia Wildlands, Oregon Wild, and Willamette Riverkeeper] have demonstrated a likelihood of success on the claim that the Forest Service may not use the road repair and maintenance [Categorical Exclusion] to avoid [National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)] review,” page 11. The Forest Service will be largely precluded from commencing logging until the court has heard and decided on the case, likely in early 2022.

After the 2020 Labor Day wildfires, the Willamette National Forest planned a massive logging project along 400 miles of forest roads and several thousand acres under a loophole called a categorical exclusion, which would have excused the agency from the required NEPA review. If allowed to proceed under the categorical exclusion, the agency would have moved forward with large-scale logging operations without considering environmental impacts and without considering public feedback and involvement.

Lead counsel Oliver Stiefel of Crag Law Center said: “Many of the trees proposed for logging pose no imminent danger. As the judge recognized, a large majority pose a low risk, which completely undercuts the Forest Service’s attempt to rush the project forward without carefully weighing competing values and meaningfully involving the public.” 

In the wake of other fires, other National Forests in the region have applied a much lighter approach to post-fire roadside logging. The conservation groups did not object to removal of imminent danger trees along major roadways or repair and maintenance of bridges, including the Henline Bridge which provides access to Jawbone Flats and the Opal Creek Ancient Forest Center. Post-fire logging has widespread, detrimental effects on water quality, wildlife habitat, forest soils, and natural recovery. 

“The court recognized that this massive post-fire logging project was not routine maintenance,” said Nick Cady, legal director for Cascadia Wildlands. “The Forest Service attempted to use the fires as cover to commercially log in scenic areas and on remote roads, which risked further harm to these sensitive burned landscapes and undermined confidence in their ability to manage public lands.”

Today’s ruling follows a decision this summer from the federal court for the Eastern District of California, enjoining the Forest Service from proceeding with roadside logging until the court hears the merits of the lawsuit.

Doug Heiken, Conservation and Restoration Coordinator with Oregon Wild said, “Our response after fire must be thoughtful, not rushed or we risk doing more harm to the sensitive recovery ecosystem. Experts tell us to retain as many trees to stabilize soils, provide shade and nurture the new forest.”

The planned roadside logging would impact water quality in the Willamette River and tributaries and would negatively affect adjacent streams and rivers.  Rivers in the project area are home to Upper Willamette Spring Chinook, Bull Trout, and Upper Willamette Winter Steelhead.

“Logging along 400 miles of roads will increase erosion and push more dirty water into the Willamette River impacting fish, freshwater mussels and adding more stress to the system,” said Travis Williams, Riverkeeper & Executive Director at Willamette Riverkeeper.

Judge McShane indicated Wednesday that the conservation organizations have a high likelihood of success on their claims and that logging activities will be largely paused until the court holds a full hearing on the merits of the case, likely early next year.
 
The conservation groups in this case are represented by attorneys from the Crag Law Center and Cascadia Wildlands.

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While coho salmon have been threatened with extinction for years, the Board of Forestry has until now never initiated a state-mandated review of its rules to protect the fish. “The Oregon Forest Practices Act requires the Board of Forestry to address conflicts between logging and habitat for species at risk of extinction,” said Nick Cady, Legal Director with Cascadia Wildlands. “The major ongoing conflict between logging practices and coho salmon habitat is finally getting the hard look it deserves.”

The Board has only undertaken such efforts for a handful of bird species and had never done such work for coho salmon, which are listed as threatened by the National Marine Fisheries Service. The petition specifically asked the Board to (1) collect and analyze the best available information on coho salmon; (2) conduct a resource site inventory; and (3) adopt rules to protect resource sites and to develop a process to identify new sites in the future.

“This resource site process allows the state of Oregon to take a wholistic look at the numerous different ways logging impacts salmon and its breeding habitat. Practices that perpetuate poor habitat conditions like intensive logging too close to streams and on landslide-prone areas, sediment from forest roads, and large areas dominated by clear-cuts” said Robyn Janssen with Rogue Riverkeeper. “Oregon’s rules for state and private timberlands are the weakest in the Pacific Northwest, and it is encouraging to see the Board take its first steps towards addressing these deficiencies.”

Oregon has relied heavily on voluntary measures by timber companies to protect coho. Between 1995 and 2017, taxpayers invested $65 million dollars of public funds on instream habitat restoration efforts. However, Oregon’s weak forest practices rules still allow logging to degrade aquatic habitat critical to the recovery of coho salmon.

“It is an obvious case of one step forward, two steps back. We need to address the root causes of fish decline. The public’s investments in habitat restoration activities cannot keep up with the pace or scale of the ongoing degradation from poor forest practices,” said Nick Cady. “The Board has a perfect opportunity now to address these inefficiencies and meaningfully address salmon recovery where it matters most.”

The post Oregon Board of Forestry Grants Petition to Protect Coho Salmon from Private and State Logging first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Contact:
Josh Laughlin, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 844-8182
Micah Meskel, Audubon Society of Portland, (503) 481-5715
Noah Greenwald, Center for Biological Diversity, (503) 484-7495
Daniel Kruse, Attorney, (541) 337-5829

Oregon Court Rules Sale of Elliott State Forest Tract Illegal

Old-growth Forest East of Coos Bay Will be Retained in Public Ownership

SALEM, Ore.— The Oregon Court of Appeals ruled today that the 2014 sale of the 788-acre East Hakki Ridge tract on the 93,000-acre Elliott State Forest east of Coos Bay was illegal. The ruling, which overturns the sale of the public land to a private timber company, marks a major win for the state’s public lands.

“This is a huge victory for public lands enthusiasts who were locked out of the forest after the state of Oregon recklessly sold this tract to the timber industry,” said Josh Laughlin, executive director of Cascadia Wildlands and an individual plaintiff in the case. “Privatizing public land would have been a disaster for imperiled salmon and wildlife that rely on clean water and old forests to survive.”

Cascadia Wildlands, Audubon Society of Portland and Center for Biological Diversity brought the lawsuit under an Oregon law, ORS 530.450, which states that it is illegal to sell the Elliott State Forest. State officials defended their decision to dispose of the parcel in court saying the State Land Board should not be required to follow the law.

“The decision by the state to sell off portions off the Elliott State Forest and avoid its legal obligations to protect imperiled marbled murrelets and the forests in which they depend was fundamentally flawed from the start,” said Bob Sallinger, conservation director for Portland Audubon. “It is now time for the state to step up and manage this amazing forest in a way that truly protects murrelets, spotted owls, coho salmon and other species that depend on our older forests.”

The state’s privatization scheme was in direct response to a successful 2012 case brought by the same conservation organizations, which halted dozens of old-growth timber sales on the Elliott, Clatsop and Tillamook state forests, where threatened marbled murrelets were nesting.

The imperiled seabird is unique, flying upwards of 40 miles inland to lay a single egg on a wide mossy limb in the region’s remaining older rainforests. Clearcutting of its habitat is the bird’s primary threat.

“The state should never have sold these public lands in the first place,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The Elliott State Forest is a treasure to all Oregonians, providing critical habitat to coho salmon, marbled murrelets and people alike.”

ORS 530.450 withdraws from sale any lands on the Elliott State Forest that were originally part of the Siuslaw National Forest. The East Hakki Ridge parcel, located just south of the Dean Creek Elk Viewing Area on Highway 38, fell within this category.

“The Elliott State Forest is one of the few places left in the Oregon Coast Range that has not been completely mowed over,” said attorney Daniel Kruse. “It is such a beautiful and important place, and today’s decision confirms that it cannot be sold off to the highest bidder for a quick dollar.”

Sold to Seneca Jones Timber Company, the East Hakki Ridge parcel was one of a handful of forested tracts the state sold to the timber industry in 2014. Another parcel, the 355-acre Benson Ridge tract, was sold to Scott Timber Company and is also currently subject to litigation.

The different state sales were looked at as test cases to sell off the entire Elliott State Forest to the timber industry. The State Land Board, made up of the governor, secretary of state and treasurer, oversees management of the Forest and was ready to sell the entire forest in 2017.

After significant grassroots organizing and legal campaigns by concerned Oregonians, the Land Board, led by Gov. Kate Brown, reversed course and opted to keep the treasured forest in public ownership. The 2017 Oregon Legislature later allocated $100 million in bonding revenue to help keep the forest public for the diversity of values it offers, like clean water, old-growth forests, salmon and wildlife habitat, carbon storage and recreation opportunities.

The plaintiffs were represented by attorneys Daniel Kruse of Eugene and Nicolas Cady with Cascadia Wildlands.

(photo by Andrew Kumler)

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The post Press Release: Oregon Court Rules Sale of Elliott State Forest Tract Illegal first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

The post Press Release: House of Representatives Passes Horrific “Logging without Laws” Bill first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

For Immediate Release

Nick Cady, Cascadia Wildlands (314) 482-3746

Medford BLM Old-Growth Timber Sale Faces Legal Challenge

Groups Oppose the Government Returning to Old-Growth Logging

Today a coalition of conservation organizations representing tens of thousands of Oregonians filed a lawsuit against the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) seeking to halt the “Lower Grave” old-growth timber sale located on the Grave Creek tributary to the Rogue River.  This illegal logging project proposes to log fire-resilient old-growth forests currently serving as a critical refuge for the northern spotted owl, Coho salmon and red tree voles.

“The last thing the Grave Creek Watershed needs is more old-growth logging, more clearcutting and more logging roads,” said George Sexton, Conservation Director for KS Wild. “Our public land managers should be bringing communities together to restore forests, but the BLM appears intent on going back to the days of ripping up watersheds and slicking off native forests.”

The timber sale marks a sharp departure from the BLM’s prior restoration efforts in the Rogue River Basin aimed at undoing past damage wrought by rampant clearcutting and extensive road construction over the previous century.  Medford BLM had been successfully implementing “dry forest restoration” timber sales based on the recommendations of foresters Drs. Norm Johnson and Jerry Franklin. These dry-forest restoration principles allowed to the BLM to offer substantial timber volume for sale, while increasing the resistance of these forest stands to large fires, largely without controversy.

“Our organizations repeatedly stressed to the BLM that there was a way for them to design this project to generate timber for sale and protect the large old-growth trees,” said Nick Cady with Cascadia Wildlands.  “The BLM replied that its mission was to maximize the cut.  That is not the agency’s mission. The BLM is placing no value on wildlife, clean water, and forest health that Oregonians hold dear.”

The BLM admits that the timber sale will increase fire hazard in the “regeneration harvest” logging units in which over 95% of the old-growth trees will be removed and replaced with dense tree-farms. The sale will also result in the “take” of a newly established spotted owl pair and its juveniles.

“The Lower Grave timber sale is based on the wrong priorities. This logging will degrade rather than restore our public forests that have already been logged too much,” said Doug Heiken of Oregon Wild. “BLM’s top priority should be careful restoration of the public values that flow from our public forests, including clean water, recreation, climate stability, fish & wildlife, and quality of life that underpins our diverse economy.”

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The post Suit Filed to Prevent Old-Growth Logging Near Rogue River first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Contact:  
Nick Cady, Cascadia Wildlands, (314) 482-3746
Noah Greenwald, Center for Biological Diversity, (503) 484-7495
Bob Sallinger, Portland Audubon, (503) 380-9728

Court Halts Logging of Elliott State Forest Tract Sold to Timber Company

 Old-Growth Clearcutting Stopped to Protect Threatened Marbled Murrelets

The post Court Halts Logging of Elliott State Forest Tract Sold to Timber Company first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

On August 5, the Bureau of Land Management signed a new management plan for western Oregon.  Cascadia Wildlands and our conservation allies protested the initial draft of this plan, but the BLM's decision yesterday largely ignored all our points of contention.  

From a broad perspective, the plan will increase logging levels on federal BLM lands by 37 percent.  These public lands were originally designed to serve as a refuge and protective zone for imperiled forest species, clean water, carbon storage in an effort to counter-balance the industrial clearcutting and pesticide spraying occurring on intermixed private forest lands.  There is no question that this plan deeply compromises our landscape's ability to adapt to ongoing climate change and other disturbances like large-scale fires.  

For over the past 20 years, these public forests had been managed under the Northwest Forest Plan, a deal brokered by the Clinton administration to end the timber wars in Oregon. The Northwest Forest Plan was not perfect, but it strived to achieve balance and protect critical resources and generally took a precautionary approach to various unknowns.  

The BLM's new plan dramatically reduces almost every protection in the Northwest Forest Plan.  Specifically, the plan eliminates stream side buffers, eliminates surveys and buffers for imperiled or uncommon species, disregards climate change and carbon storage, and opens up mature and old-growth forest to archaic cleacrcutting practices. The plan completely ignores the contribution of these public lands to Oregon's booming outdoor industry which is valued at over 10 billion dollars a year.  The fishing industry is particularly worried given the potential impacts to Oregon's waterways.

These public forest are our homes, our playgrounds, our sanctuaries.  These efforts to strip our forests away from us will not stand.  Cascadia Wildlands is part of a broad coalition of conservation, recreation, and fishing groups in staunch opposition to this plan, and we are devoted to protecting these majestic lands. There will be news of our challenge soon.

The post BLM Signs Devastating New Management Plan for Oregon’s Forests! first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Contact:
Nick Cady, Legal Director, Cascadia Wildlands, 314-482-3746
Doug Heiken, Conservation and Restoration Coordinator, Oregon Wild, 541-344-0675

Conservationists Halt Public Lands Clearcutting Outside of Eugene
BLM Pulls Decision After Lawsuit for Largest Lane Co Clearcut in 20 Years

EUGENE, Ore.— Public opposition and a legal challenge from Cascadia Wildlands and Oregon Wild has prompted the Eugene Bureau of Land Management to place on hold its plans to clearcut 259 acres of public lands just outside of Springfield, Oregon near Shotgun Creek.  The “Second Show” timber sale would have been the largest clearcut on federal lands in Lane County in 20 years.

This logging proposal elicited over 700 public comments, largely in opposition to the proposed clearcutting .  Local residents raised concerns about clean water, Chinook salmon, and logging some of the last old forests in an already degraded watershed.

“I am extremely relieved that these mature trees may now have a chance to become a real old growth forest. They are located very near the BLM Shotgun Park and Recreation Area and I believe the BLM should focus on preserving our public lands for wildlife, recreation, and future generations,” said Ellen Furstner, a Marcola resident who commented on the sale.  “Protecting the old forest that is left should be our priority to fight global warming. It’s just a shame our federal agencies do not see it that way.”

After the BLM’s decision to move forward with logging, Cascadia Wildlands and Oregon Wild filed a “protest” with BLM but BLM failed to pick up their mail at the post office and refused to consider the protest. Seneca Sawmill then purchased the sale, and Cascadia Wildlands and Oregon Wild were forced to file suit in federal court arguing that the BLM neglected to analyze the effects of clearcutting in conjunction with ongoing commercial logging and road construction in the same area.  BLM withdrew their decision to log the Second Show timber sale on March 19 before answering the complaint and before the court could rule on the merits of the case.

“Our federal timber lands have been hammered by reckless clearcut logging for the past 90 years.  Salmon and spotted owl populations are plummeting, water quality is terribly diminished, and our federal timber lands have more roads than Los Angeles,” said Nick Cady, Legal Director of Cascadia Wildlands. “Yet despite the science and public opposition, the BLM continues to target mature forests.  The agency refuses to open its eyes.”

Decades of past clearcutting has resulted in federal lands that are now overstocked with dense young Douglas fir plantations.  Conservation groups have been working with the BLM for the past decade to meet timber targets by commercially thinning these younger forests.

“The Second Show proposal is a big step backward,” said Doug Heiken of Oregon Wild. “Restoration thinning has allowed the agency to meet its timber goals without clearcutting and without doing undue harm to wildlife habitat and watersheds. Clearcutting public lands should be put in the dust-bin of history where it belongs.”

The Second Show decision has been pulled, but the agency may again elect to proceed with the controversial logging after revising its analysis documents.  The revision process will be open to the public, and the BLM will respond to public concerns and questions about the proposed logging.  

For a copy of the complaint click here.

The post Cascadia Halts Huge Public Lands Clearcutting Outside Eugene first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.