Contact:
Nick Cady, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 434-1463
Noah Greenwald, Center for Biological Diversity
Danielle Moser, Oregon Wild
Bob Sallinger, Portland Audubon

Lawsuit Filed to Protect North Oregon Coast Red Tree Voles

Tree-Dwelling Vole Threatened by Logging, Wildfire, Climate Change

PORTLAND, Ore.— Conservation groups filed a lawsuit today challenging a decision by the Trump administration to deny the north Oregon coast population of red tree voles protection under the Endangered Species Act.

In response to a 2007 petition from the groups, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found the vole warranted protection in 2011, but that such protection was precluded by listing other species. That determination was repeatedly reaffirmed until 2019, when the Trump administration abruptly reversed course and denied protections.

Red tree voles on Oregon’s north coast have been devastated by logging, wildfires and inadequate protections on state and private lands.

“We hope the Biden administration takes a close look at this politically driven decision, which is nothing more than another gift to the timber industry that ignores science,” said Noah Greenwald, the Center for Biological Diversity’s endangered species director. “Protecting the red tree vole means protecting the few remaining old forests on Oregon’s north coast. This benefits not just the vole, but also hundreds of other plants and animals, clean water and our climate.”

Red tree voles live nearly their entire lives in trees and are closely associated with old-growth forests. As one of very few mammals that can subsist entirely on conifer needles, tree voles rarely venture from the treetops to the ground, making them exceedingly vulnerable to logging and forest fragmentation. They have been nearly eliminated on the north coast by the long history of logging and wildfires in the region, including on the Tillamook and Clatsop state forests.

“Clearcut logging has reached record highs across the Tillamook and Clatsop state forests, and recent proposals from the Oregon Department of Forestry seek to explicitly ensure that forests are logged before they can become old-growth,” said Danielle Moser of Oregon Wild. “It’s not enough to just protect what remaining red tree vole habitat there is across Oregon’s north coast forests. We must allow some of the overcut tree plantations to mature, recover and become old-growth forests once again.”

The Oregon Department of Forestry is developing a habitat conservation plan that includes the tree vole but relies on very scant information about where it still remains, providing little assurance that the tree vole and the large blocks of old forest it lives in will be allowed to recover.

“Oregon’s north coast has been extensively logged, and the old forest that remains exists in small, isolated patches that shelter increasingly vulnerable populations of tree voles,” said Nick Cady, legal director of Cascadia Wildlands. “Not only do we need to protect what little habitat exists, but proactively restore larger patches of habitat to allow connectivity between the small, existing populations.”

“The plight of the red tree vole along with other species such as the northern spotted owl and marbled murrelet speak to the fact that the protections that are in place for Oregon’s older forests remain inadequate,” said Bob Sallinger, conservation director for Portland Audubon. “The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must follow both the law and the science and provide the red tree vole the protections they warrant before they disappear entirely from Oregon’s North Coast.”

Today’s lawsuit was filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, Oregon Wild, Cascadia Wildlands and Portland Audubon.

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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.

Cascadia Wildlands is a grassroots conservation organization that defends and restores 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.

Oregon Wild works to protect and restore Oregon’s wildlands, wildlife, and waters as an enduring legacy for future generations.

Audubon Society of Portland was founded in 1902 to promote the understanding, enjoyment and protection of native birds, other wildlife and their habitats.

The post Lawsuit Filed to Protect Red Tree Vole first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Contacts:
Susan Jane Brown, Western Environmental Law Center, 503-914-1323, brown@westernlaw.org
Tom Wheeler, EPIC, 206 356 8689, tom@wildcalifornia.org
Bethany Cotton, Cascadia Wildlands, 503-327-4923, Bethany@cascwild.org

Today, with six days remaining in the Trump administration, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published a final rule eliminating 3.4 million acres of critical habitat for the northern spotted owl in Washington state, Oregon, and California. This decision comes one month after the Service announced that the species should be uplisted from threatened to endangered, but the agency is too busy to provide these desperately needed protections. The elimination of 42% of the endangered species’ critical habitat would likely result in extinction for the northern spotted owl in the U.S. This final rule results from a sweetheart settlement between the Trump administration and the timber industry.

“On one hand, you have biologists acknowledging that northern spotted owls are extremely close to extinction and more must be done to prevent the extinction of the species,” said Susan Jane Brown, attorney at the Western Environmental Law Center. “On the other, you have the Trump administration catering to the demands of an out-of-touch timber industry. Placing commercial interests ahead of the continued existence of this iconic species is shameful, and thankfully, not permitted by the Endangered Species Act.”

Today’s final rule adds insult to injury by brazenly defying the Endangered Species Act to facilitate enormously expanded logging in northern spotted owl critical habitat, in particular on the entirety of Oregon and California Railroad Revested Lands, known as the O&C Lands, comprising 2.4 million acres. WELC and our partners will challenge this final rule in court to prevent the near-assured extinction of the northern spotted owl.

“Here in southern Oregon this is a death sentence for owls,” said George Sexton, conservation director for Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center. “This decision is intended to speed the clearcutting of the last remaining fragments of old-growth forests on Bureau of Land Management public lands.”

“The Trump administration claimed in December it was too busy to reclassify the owl as endangered. Today, it voluntarily removed millions of acres of critical habitat as a last-gasp gift to the timber industry,” said Tom Wheeler, executive director of EPIC. “This brazen hypocrisy would be staggering, if we hadn’t gotten used to it over the past four years of the Trump administration.”

“The Fish and Wildlife Service is charged with recovering imperiled species like the declining northern spotted owl, not with prioritizing private timber interests,” said Bethany Cotton, conservation director for Cascadia Wildlands. “We must return to following the law and the science if we are to prevent the extinction of iconic wildlife like the owl.”

General background:
Timber harvesting in the Northwest has resulted in a widespread loss of spotted owl habitat across its range, which was a main reason for prompting the listing of the species in 1990. Owls depend on habitat provided by the dense canopy of mature and old-growth forests; unfortunately, those forests are still a target for logging throughout the bird’s historic range. The northern spotted owl is already functionally extinct in its northernmost range, with only one recognized breeding pair left in British Columbia.

In response to a court order, in 1990 the Service listed the northern spotted owl as threatened, citing low and declining populations, limited and declining habitat, competition from barred owls, and other factors in the bird’s plight. Even after its listing, northern spotted owl populations have declined by 70%, and the rate of decline has increased.

Additional background from the Service (source):
“Habitat loss was the primary factor leading to the listing of the northern spotted owl as a threatened species, and it continues to be a stressor on the subspecies due to the lag effects of past habitat loss, continued timber harvest, wildfire, and a minor amount from insect and forest disease outbreaks.”

“On non-Federal lands, State regulatory mechanisms have not prevented the continued decline of nesting/roosting and foraging habitat; the amount of northern spotted owl habitat on these lands has decreased considerably over the past two decades, including in geographic areas where Federal lands are lacking. On Federal lands, the Northwest Forest Plan has reduced habitat loss and allowed for the development of new northern spotted owl habitat; however, the combined effects of climate change, high severity wildfire, and past management practices are changing forest ecosystem processes and dynamics, and the expansion of barred owl populations is altering the capacity of intact habitat to support northern spotted owls.”

“Based on our review of the best available scientific and commercial information pertaining to the factors affecting the northern spotted owl, we find that the stressors acting on the subspecies and its habitat, particularly rangewide competition from the nonnative barred owl and high-severity wildfire, are of such imminence, intensity, and magnitude to indicate that the northern spotted owl is now in danger of extinction throughout all of its range. Our status review indicates that the northern spotted owl meets the definition of an endangered species. Therefore, in accordance with sections 3(6) and 4(a)(1) of the Act, we find that listing the northern spotted owl as an endangered species is warranted throughout all of its range. However, work on a reclassification for the northern spotted owl has been, and continues to be, precluded by work on higher-priority actions—which includes listing actions with statutory, court-ordered, or court approved deadlines and final listing determinations.”

The post USFWS cuts northern spotted owl critical habitat by 42% in likely death sentence for species first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Contact: 
Nick Cady, Cascadia Wildlands, (314) 482-3746, nick@cascwild.org

PORTLAND, Ore.— Conservation groups filed a petition today asking the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission to permanently close commercial and recreational beaver trapping and hunting on the state’s federally managed public lands and the waters that flow through them. Beavers are Oregon’s official state animal, but they can be legally hunted and trapped with few limits.  

Cascadia Wildlands, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Conservation Angler, Defenders of Wildlife, Northeast Oregon Ecosystems, Umpqua Watersheds, WaterWatch of Oregon and Wetlands Conservancy filed this petition along with Suzanne Fouty, a retired hydrologist with the U.S. Forest Service. 

The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission discussed this request in June as part of its review of the state’s furbearer regulations. But it was rejected then as being outside the scope of that rulemaking notice. Today’s petition initiates a new rulemaking process for the commission’s consideration.

“Federal and state agencies, watershed councils, utility companies, conservation groups, and private landowners spend countless hours and millions of dollars every year to restore Oregon’s waterways, mimicking the natural behavior of beavers,” said Nick Cady, legal director of Cascadia Wildlands. “At the same time, Oregon’s Department of Fish and Wildlife permits limitless commercial and recreational trapping of beavers and does not even monitor populations. The department’s beaver trapping and hunting regulations are outdated and directly undermine the extensive, ongoing restoration of our water resources and efforts to recover imperiled salmon populations.”

Beavers are a keystone species and offer widely recognized ecological, economic, and social benefits, today’s petition notes. Beaver-created and maintained habitat improves water quality, decreases the impacts of floods, and restores natural water flows. This benefits humans and a wide variety of fish and wildlife, including highly endangered coho salmon. Beavers therefore play an important role in improving Oregon’s water security and minimizing impacts of climate change on human and wild communities.

“Beavers are our natural allies in the fight against climate change,” said Quinn Read, Oregon policy director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “We live in the Beaver State, and it’s appalling that beavers are still hunted and trapped. This cruel practice favors a few people and deprives other Oregonians and endangered salmon of the benefits of beaver-created habitat.”

Few people in Oregon trap or hunt beavers. But today’s petition points out that the annual culling of the species has significant negative effects on beaver populations and their corresponding social, economic and ecological benefits. The petition’s requested changes wouldn’t affect hunting and trapping opportunities elsewhere but they would allow beavers to thrive on federally managed public lands.

“Many people don’t know just how critical beavers are to functioning watersheds that, in turn, benefit hundreds of other plants and animals, including threatened and endangered species,” said Sristi Kamal, senior northwest representative for Defenders of Wildlife. “Beaver conservation on federal lands could be key to the conservation success of such species and their ability to survive and adapt to climate change impacts.”

Beaver populations have been significantly reduced from historic levels through hunting and trapping. These ongoing practices suppress population growth and expansion into large swaths of unoccupied suitable beaver habitat.

Cascadia Wildlands defends and restores Cascadia’s wild ecosystems in the forests, in the courts, and in the streets. We envision vast old-growth forests, rivers full of salmon, wolves howling in the backcountry, and vibrant communities sustained by the unique landscapes of the Cascadia bioregion.

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.

Defenders of Wildlife is dedicated to the protection of all native animals and plants in their natural communities. With over 1.8 million members and activists, Defenders of Wildlife is a leading advocate for innovative solutions to safeguard our wildlife heritage for generations to come. For more information, visit defenders.org/newsroom and follow us on Twitter @Defenders.

The post Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission Petitioned to End Beaver Trapping and Hunting on Federal Land first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

State Endangered Species Protection Sought for Oregon’s Humboldt Martens

Secretive Cat-like Carnivores in Coast Range at Risk of Extinction

PORTLAND, Ore.— Six conservation groups filed a petition today asking the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to protect the Humboldt marten under the Oregon Endangered Species Act.

Only two populations of fewer than 200 total animals currently survive in the state, on the central and southern coast. Recent studies project that the rare carnivores could go extinct in Oregon if they do not get protection.

“New science clearly shows that it’s a life or death situation for Oregon’s Humboldt martens,” said Tierra Curry, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The fate of this cute little predator now rests in the hands of Oregon’s decision makers.”

“Humboldt martens have been nearly wiped out by logging and development of their old-growth forest habitat and over-trapping,” said Nick Cady, legal director at Cascadia Wildlands. “Protection under the Oregon Endangered Species Act will ensure they survive for future generations of Oregonians.”

The martens were once common in the coastal mountains from the Columbia River south to Sonoma, California. But logging of old-growth forest and trapping decimated and separated populations. The animal was thought to be extinct until it was rediscovered in the redwoods in 1996.

Genetic studies then revealed that Oregon’s coastal martens are part of the Humboldt marten subspecies and are a different subspecies than the martens in the Cascade Range.

Currently Humboldt martens survive only on federal lands in Oregon, with one population in the Siskiyou National Forest and one population in the Siuslaw National Forest. The lack of mature forest habitat on state and private forests between the populations has isolated them and put them at high risk. Humboldt martens in California have also declined to only two small populations, making the total global population less than 400 martens.

A recently published scientific study concluded that Humboldt martens are so rare on the central Oregon coast that trapping or road kill of just two or three annually could result in wiping out the population.

Humboldt martens are under review for federal Endangered Species Act protection, but they can still be trapped for their fur in Oregon. Earlier this year conservation groups also petitioned the state to ban marten trapping west of Interstate 5.

California banned trapping the animals in 1946, and that state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife has recommended that the Fish and Game Commission list them as endangered under the California Endangered Species Act.

Today’s petition was filed by Cascadia Wildlands, the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, Environmental Protection Information Center, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center and Oregon Wild. The Department of Fish and Wildlife must acknowledge receipt of the petition within 10 working days and within 90 days indicate whether the petition presents substantial scientific information to warrant the listing.

Martens, typically 2 feet long, have large, triangular ears and a long tail. They hunt small mammals, birds, reptiles and insects, and are eaten by larger mammals and raptors.

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 1.6 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

Photo © Charlotte Eriksson Oregon State University

The post Petition Filed to Save the Humboldt Marten! first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

After our first week on the job at Cascadia Wildlands, we took a road-trip to Baker City to attend the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (“ODFW”) Commission hearing. With caffeinated beverages in hand, we left early in the morning so we could site-see along the way. We took the southern route from Eugene through Bend where we enjoyed incredible views and windy roads scaling the steep mountain passes.

After five hours on the road, we stopped outside of Prairie City to check out the Strawberry Wilderness. Driving through Prairie City made it hard to believe we were near any mountainous wilderness. As the name suggested, the area was surrounded by rolling lush green hills. However, after driving a few miles outside the “city,” a dramatic range reached before us. We drove down an unpaved road for miles and were perplexed by the online description classifying the trail as “highly trafficked.” Yet, a row of shiny cars were revealed to us after turning the last bend.

We stretched our legs, ate our snacks, and changed our shoes before exploring what Strawberry Wilderness had to offer. The warm sunny day offered us perfect hiking weather and picturesque views of Strawberry Lake.

After exploring the region, we piled back in the car to finish our last one and a half hours on the road before we reached our campsite. After camping out that night, we woke to a clear morning and headed into Baker City to testify in front of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (“ODFW”) Commission.

We were preparing to give testimony to offer suggestions on proposed survival guidelines for the Marbled Murrelet on behalf of Cascadia Wildlands and other environmental groups. These survival guidelines are “Step 2” of the reclassification process of moving a species from a threatened to endangered status.

“Step 1” of this process began with Cascadia Wildlands and other environmental groups submitting a petition to re-classify the Marbled Murrelet from threatened to endangered in June 2016. Upon review of the petition, the ODFW decided to move forward with the listing process and scheduled a hearing in Salem on February 2018. This meeting was attended by enthusiastic stakeholders that resulted in the commission moving the Marbled Murrelet from threatened to endangered under the Oregon Endangered Species Act.

This decision is important for two major reasons. First, it reflects the true imperilment of the species. Second, it compelled the ODFW staff to create survival guidelines to ensure the persistence of the species. These guidelines impose quantifiable and measurable guidelines that ensure the survival of individual members of the species.

Due to an odd exemption in the state Endangered Species Act, the ODFW is not required to create these guidelines for species that were included at the time the law came in to affect—the Marbled Murrelet is one of these species. So, even though the Marbled Murrelet is considered threatened, its status was futile in ensuring its persistence because there were no protections to accompany the listing. Thus, Marbled Murrelet is threatened in name only.

This brings us to “Step 2.” Step 2 requires the ODFW commission to create survival guidelines at the time of listing the species. We understood this meeting to comprise “Step 2” of the re-classifying process. However, we were surprised upon arriving to find a room full of individuals asking the ODFW Commission not to reclassify the species as endangered. It soon became very clear after a few minutes of public testimony that the majority of testimony was not about survival guidelines. Instead, the meeting’s attendees used the hearing as their last chance to persuade the ODFW Commission not to uplist.

Unfortunately, they listened. Oregon law requires the ODFW commission to reclassify species based on verifiable scientific information related to the species biological status. While economic considerations are admissible in developing survival guidelines, they cannot contribute to the decision to classify a species.

Regardless of ODFW’s legal duty to list a species based on scientific evidence, the commission decided to decline to up-list the Marbled Murrelet with unsubstantial and unconvincing evidence. Furthermore, the commission was apprised of the Marbled Murrelet’s declining trend by the Cascadia Wildland’s petition, the final status review report, peer review of ODFW’s biological status report, and recommendations by its own staff. All of these sources were based on verifiable scientific information related to the species biological status. However, the Commission still decided to ignore its previous decision to uplist.

The sudden change of heart implies that the testimony from more than thirty people at the June meeting affected the ODFW Commission’s analysis. The majority of this testimony manifested relentless concern and apprehension regarding the potential economic impact of classifying the Marbled Murrelet as endangered. This concern predominantly stemmed from private timber and ranch industries.

After speaking with some down-trodden representatives of the Portland Audubon Society, we got back in the car after a long day and started our six-plus-hour journey back home. We lamented and reflected on the day with disappointment and began brainstorming the illegality of the ODFW’s action. Our first week working at Cascadia Wildlands showed us how disappointing and surprising some losses can be. With the experience behind us, we felt inspired and motivated to continue work on the issue and see what protections we can persuade state agencies to issue for the declining Marbled Murrelet.

You can take action now to protect the marbled murrelet!

The post When Oregon’s Fish and Wildlife Commission Lost its Marbles first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

PORTLAND, Ore.— Three conservation groups filed a legal challenge  today to the removal of protection from gray wolves under Oregon’s Endangered Species Act. According to the challenge, the 4-2 decision by the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission to delist wolves violated the law by failing to follow best available science and prematurely removing protections before wolves are truly recovered. With only about 80 known adult wolves mostly confined to one small corner of the state, Oregon’s wolf population is far from recovery, according to leading scientists.

The post Suit Filed to Restore Endangered Species Act Protections for Wolves in Oregon first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.