Contacts:
Grace Brahler, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 434-1463
Madeline Cowen, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 434-1463

Feds Solicit Public Input for Climate Resilience Rulemaking

On April 20, 2023, the two federal agencies charged with overseeing federally-managed public forests in the US released a much-anticipated report defining, identifying, and producing an initial inventory of mature and old-growth forests. The Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) inventory, which will continue to expand, identified more than 32 million acres of old-growth and around 80 million acres of mature forest across 200 types of forests. The inventory was ordered by President Biden in his 2022 Earth Day Executive Order, which marked the first time the federal government clearly acknowledged the many ecosystem services and climate benefits of our country’s last remaining mature and old-growth forests. The initial inventory found that old-growth forest represents 18% and mature forest another 45% of all forested lands managed by the Forest Service and BLM. In addition, the Forest Service announced a proposed rulemaking process. The agency is asking for public input on how to adapt current policies to protect, conserve, and manage national forests and grasslands for climate resilience.

“We are pleased to see the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management meet the ambitious deadline set last Earth Day to define and inventory the remaining mature and old-growth forests on federally-managed public lands,” said Grace Brahler, wildlands director with Cascadia Wildlands. “However, the glaring shortcoming remains that mature and old-growth forests are not protected from logging while this process unfolds. As we move into this next phase, we continue to call for durable legal protections for these forests for their myriad benefits, including as profoundly effective carbon sinks.”

“As we get ready to celebrate yet another Earth Day characterized by compounding biodiversity and climate crises, we ask federal agencies to permanently protect mature and old-growth forests as one of our most powerful natural climate solutions,” said Madeline Cowen, grassroots organizer with Cascadia Wildlands. “Older forests filter our drinking water, remove climate pollution from the air we breathe, and increase our resilience to uncharacteristically severe wildfires. These forests are worth far more standing.”

Cascadia Wildlands invites the public to join us and our partner organizations for an Earth Day Rally for Forests and Climate on Saturday, April 22nd, in Eugene, Oregon, calling for lasting protections for public mature and old-growth forests from logging.

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The post Press Release: Federal Agencies Release Joint Report on Mature and Old-Growth Forests first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Contacts:
Madeline Cowen, Grassroots Organizer, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 434-1463
Victoria Wingell, Forests and Climate Campaigner, Oregon Wild
Eric Schiff, local resident, McKenzie River

Climate and forest activists gathered for a flotilla on the McKenzie River to bring attention to the Flat Country old-growth logging sale in the Willamette National Forest 

Leaburg, OREGON — Today, a “kayaktivist” flotilla of over 100 concerned community members rallied on the McKenzie River to protest an old-growth logging sale in the Willamette National Forest. The Flat Country project, proposed by the U.S. Forest Service, targets over 2,000 acres of old-growth and mature forests for logging across the headwaters of the McKenzie River. The agency could auction the old growth to be cut at any moment. Attendees held up signs from boats and kayaks, and unfurled a large banner declaring “Forest Defense is Watershed Defense”, to draw attention to the logging sale’s impact on downstream drinking water.

VIDEO AND PHOTOS FROM THE FLOTILLA EVENT & LOGGING SALE
Available for media use

Guided hikes of the Flat Country logging sale available to reporters upon request.

At the event, protestors called on the Willamette National Forest and the Biden administration to drop the Flat Country old-growth logging sale in light of the significant impacts it would have on climate, wildlife habitat, and community safety. The project also encompasses the headwaters of the McKenzie River, the source of drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people in the area. The sale is also opposed by Congressman Peter DeFazio and leading forest ecologists Jerry Franklin and Norm Johnson. 

“We haven’t seen a logging project like this in years, and there’s a good reason why,” said Cascadia Wildlands organizer Madeline Cowen. “When you log places like Flat Country, you’re making the area more susceptible to fire and drought. You’re impacting the entire downstream community that relies on this forest.”

Eric Schiff, local resident on the McKenzie River said: “In 2020, we lost our home to the Holiday Farm wildfire. Now just a few years later with the Flat Country timber sale, it is unfathomable that the Forest Service is still proposing old growth clearcut logging in the McKenzie River watershed. Our community relies on the McKenzie River for our drinking water, recreation, fisheries and our livelihood. It is critical that policymakers do everything that they can to protect this invaluable resource and iconic river.” 

Earlier this year, President Joe Biden signed Executive Order 14072 on Strengthening the Nation’s Forests, Communities, and Local Economies, which directs his administration to create stronger protections for public forests in an effort to mitigate the climate crisis. Despite this Executive Order, Willamette National Forest is moving forward with the timber sale which threatens thousands of acres of old-growth and mature forest in the McKenzie Watershed, the very types of forests the Executive Order was meant to safeguard. 

“The Flat Country sale aims to cut down some of Oregon’s last remaining,  biggest and oldest trees— precisely the ones we need to keep growing and storing carbon,” said Oregon Wild organizer Victoria Wingell. “Forests like these are already the best wildlife habitat, the best climate mitigation, and the most resilient against wildfire. We need to act now before we lose them for a lifetime.”

The Flat Country logging sale has been identified by the national Climate Forests Campaign as one of the most egregious examples of mature and old-growth federal logging projects set to take place despite President Biden’s Earth Day executive order to protect them. 

The McKenzie River Flotilla is the first in a series of rallies organized by the Climate Forests Campaign to take place across the country in the lead-up to COP 27. This coalition, made up of over 100 groups including Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, EarthJustice, and Center for Biological Diversity, are calling on the Biden administration to establish a rule that protects mature and old-growth forests on federal lands from logging as part of the United States’ international commitments to address impacts of climate change.

The recruiting, training, and capacity building for this event is in part supported by the Climate Emergency Fund, which strategically supports ultra-ambitious organizations demanding solutions to the climate crisis at emergency speed. 

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Oregon Wild works to protect and restore Oregon’s wildlands, wildlife, and waters as an enduring legacy for future generations. Founded in 1974, Oregon Wild represents the fish and wildlife, ancient forests, and rich diversity of public lands and landscapes that make this state so special.

Eugene-based Cascadia Wildlands is a 501c3 non-profit with over 12,000 members and supporters whose mission is to defend and restore Cascadia’s wild ecosystems in the forests, in the courts, and in the streets. We envision 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. 

The post Press Release: Over 100 “Kayaktivists” and Community Members Protest Old-Growth Logging first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Contacts:
Bethany Cotton, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 434-1463
Susan Jane Brown, Western Environmental Law Center
Doug Heiken, Oregon Wild

Eugene, OR — Today, old-growth forest and wildlife advocates provided the U.S. Forest Service the means to reconsider the pending Trump-era “Flat Country” timber sale in Oregon’s Willamette National Forest. The vast majority of the proposed logging would be in mature and old-growth forests, with over 1,000 acres of clearcutting, even though President Biden this year ordered his administration to prioritize conserving these forests as a crucial climate protection.

The groups’ “significant new information” letter details new law and policy as well as changed on-the-ground conditions stemming from the 2020 Holiday Farm wildfire nearby. The Forest Service’s 2020 environmental impact statement approving the 5,000-acre timber sale does not consider these important issues as required by the National Environmental Policy Act. With the letter, the groups are asking the agency to perform supplemental environmental review of the new information that arose since 2020.

The timber sale is controversial in part because the Forest Service has not attempted to clearcut older forests in the Pacific Northwest for many years. The sale is opposed by Dr. Jerry Franklin and Dr. Norm Johnson (their story map here), two of the authors of the landmark Northwest Forest Plan; as well as Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR). The area was occupied by tree sitters in 2021 and 2022.

“The Flat Country timber sale would harm the climate, destroy thousands of acres of mature and old-growth forests, harm threatened northern spotted owls, and further impair the McKenzie River Watershed that is still reeling from a 2020 megafire driven by climate change,” said Susan Jane Brown, Wildlands and Wildlife Program director at the Western Environmental Law Center. “There is absolutely zero reason for the Biden administration—after committing to conserve mature and old-growth forests earlier this year—to pursue this Trump-era logging project when so much has changed. This is the Forest Service’s last chance to heed this new information before it makes a tragic and avoidable mistake.”

“The Biden administration’s Earth Day executive order is commendable because it at long last acknowledges the importance of safeguarding mature and old-growth forests, but it contains a glaring error in failing to recognize the ongoing threat logging poses to our last remaining mature and old-growth forests,” said Bethany Cotton, conservation director for Cascadia Wildlands. “If the Biden administration is serious about protecting old growth and safeguarding our climate, wildlife habitat, and drinking water sources, it must withdraw this terrible logging project.”

“Anyone who has visited the Flat Country sale can plainly see this is a commercial logging grab,” said Doug Heiken, restoration and conservation coordinator for Oregon Wild. “Many areas slated for destruction are fully functioning mature and old-growth forests—the exact types of systems the Forest Service claims it is trying to restore. To say this logging sale is about forest health, wildlife habitat, or fire mitigation is laughable.”

The significant new law and policy:
In “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad” (executive order 14008), President Biden orders his administration to:

“…organize and deploy the full capacity of its agencies to combat the climate crisis to implement a Government-wide approach that reduces climate pollution in every sector of the economy; increases resilience to the impacts of climate change; protects public health; conserves our lands, waters, and biodiversity…”

In “Strengthening the Nation’s Forests, Communities, and Local Economies” (executive order 14072), President Biden emphasizes the importance of conserving old-growth forests:

“Globally, forests…play an irreplaceable role in reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions…America’s forests absorb more than 10 percent of annual United States economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions. Conserving old-growth and mature forests on Federal lands while supporting and advancing climate-smart forestry and sustainable forest products is critical to protecting these and other ecosystem services provided by those forests.”
 
“My Administration will manage forests on Federal lands, which include many mature and old-growth forests, to promote their continued health and resilience; retain and enhance carbon storage; conserve biodiversity; mitigate the risk of wildfires; enhance climate resilience; enable subsistence and cultural uses; provide outdoor recreational opportunities; and promote sustainable local economic development…”

Finally, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack issued “Climate Resilience and Carbon Stewardship of America’s National Forests and Grasslands” (secretarial memorandum 1077-004) to meet some of the obligations of the Department of Agriculture imposed by EO 14072. In addition to recognizing the threat posed to national forests from climate change and the value of and role that forests play in combating the climate crisis, the secretary directed the Chief of the Forest Service to “carry out immediate actions to accelerate climate resilience and carbon stewardship.”

The Flat Country timber sale is antithetical to this significant new law and policy because rather than conserve older forests, the timber sale will log 3,115 acres of forest older than 80 years of age.

The significant new circumstances (wildfire):
On Labor Day 2020, several wildfires sparked in western Oregon, driven by high winds and temperatures, low humidity, drought conditions, and climate change. One of these fires, the Holiday Farm Fire, burned more than 173,000 acres or 27% of the McKenzie River Watershed to the west of the proposed Flat Country timber sale. Collectively, the Holiday Farm Fire and other Labor Day 2020 wildfires burned millions of acres of federal public lands and nonfederal lands, causing dramatic changes to forest and vegetation composition. The quality and arrangement of suitable wildlife habitat has changed significantly as a result of the Holiday Farm Fire and the other 2020 Labor Day Fires, requiring a reanalysis of the effects of the Flat Country timber sale.

The Forest Service published the Flat Country final environmental impact statement in June 2020, three months before the onset of the Labor Day fires. Numerous assumptions and analyses in that authorization are no longer valid in light of the extensive change in vegetative conditions as a result of these large fires.

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The post Press Release: Mature and old-growth logging sale undermines Biden climate policy; threatens McKenzie River, habitat first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.