Legal Victory: Thurston Hills Timber Sale Defeated in Court


September 19, 2019 — On Wednesday, Judge Michael McShane ruled in a lawsuit filed by Cascadia Wildlands and Oregon Wild, determining that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) violated federal laws when it approved clearcutting 100 acres of public land next to the city of Springfield. The court said that BLM’s environmental review failed to consider the fact that logging would increase fire hazard for nearby residents and failed to harmonize logging and recreation by buffering trails as required by BLM’s own rules.

Legal Victory for Marbled Murrelets in Oregon!


August 7, 2019 — An Oregon judge has issued a decision concluding the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission violated Oregon law in denying a petition filed by five conservation groups demanding the commission uplist the murrelet from threatened to endangered under the Oregon Endangered Species Act.

Cascadia Wildlands and Partners in Front of Oregon Supreme Court to Protect the Elliott State Forest


by Noah Mikell, Cascadia Wildlands Summer Legal Intern Last week we kicked off our summer as Cascadia Wildlands’ latest legal interns by attending oral arguments in the Oregon Supreme Court! It couldn’t have been better timing that we started our internships just as attorneys Dan Kruse and Nick Cady were putting the final touches on … Continue reading Cascadia Wildlands and Partners in Front of Oregon Supreme Court to Protect the Elliott State Forest

Thurston Hills Timber Sale Challenged!


February 19, 2019 — Today, Cascadia Wildlands and Oregon Wild filed a lawsuit challenging the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) plans to clearcut 100 acres of public forest on the edge of Springfield and directly adjacent to Willamalane’s recently opened 665-acre Thurston Hills Natural Area. In their complaint, the conservation organizations and residents who live adjacent to the proposed clearcutting cite increased fire hazards and threats to recreation from the logging.

Washington Targeting Three Wolf Packs for Killing


by Nick Cady, Legal Director On November 7, 2018, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) authorized the killing of wolves in the Smackout pack in Stevens County and ordered the complete elimination of the Togo pack in Ferry County. Department staff are still actively trying to kill the last adult and pup in … Continue reading Washington Targeting Three Wolf Packs for Killing

Federal Timber Sale Challenges


Below is a sample of some of our recent timber sale challenges. We will update this list periodically! Lower Grave Timber Sale: The Lower Grave timber sale is a Medford District Bureau of Land Management sale targeting old-growth forests near the Rogue River in southern Oregon. The sale targets old-growth forests inhabited by the northern … Continue reading Federal Timber Sale Challenges

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


December 20, 2016 — A U.S. District Court in Eugene has issued a preliminary ruling preventing Scott Timber from clearcutting a parcel of the Elliott State Forest purchased from the state of Oregon. The court found that the proposed logging of the Benson Ridge parcel by the subsidiary of Roseburg Forest Products raised serious questions over the potential harm threatened marbled murrelets, in violation of the federal Endangered Species Act.  

Federal Court in Oregon Rejects Miners’ Challenge to Suction-dredge Regulations


March 25, 2016 — This morning a federal court upheld an Oregon law restricting motorized gold mining in and along sensitive salmon streams. The District of Oregon court held that the State of Oregon has the right to regulate both state and federal land to protect water quality and fish habitat, and it has done so in a manner that does not conflict with federal law.

Huge Legal Victory for Washington’s Wolves


December 21, 2015 — In response to a challenge brought by a coalition of conservation organizations, a federal court rejected plans to escalate cruel wolf killing in Washington state by the secretive federal program dubbed “Wildlife Services.” Federal District Judge Robert Bryan held that Wildlife Services should have prepared a more in-depth environmental analysis of the impacts of its proposed wolf killing activities, finding the program’s cursory environmental assessment faulty because the proposed actions would have significant cumulative impacts that are highly controversial and highly uncertain.