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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On a cool Saturday morning, over twenty people met in the Cascadia parking lot to prepare to go out on the first public field checking trip of the year into the Flat Country timber sale. Covid-19 had been declared an international pandemic three days earlier, and terms such as social distancing and flattening the curve had not yet become the center of our thoughts and interactions. We caravanned into the forest, into snowy mountains, and away from the impending crisis that would soon envelop the nation. 

Flat Country is a public lands timber sale in between Eugene and Sisters at the headwaters of the McKenzie river, just north of Blue River  and adjacent to the Mount Washington Wilderness. The sale encompasses over 5,000 acres of management, including 1,000 acres slated for regeneration harvest (aka clearcutting with minimal retention) in forest stands ranging between 40 and 140 years old. 

The Forest Service opened up the comment period for this sale in the winter, making much of the sale inaccessible to field checking due to snow, but Cascadia Wildlands’ field-checking team has been busy exploring the units we can access, and we’re finding a lot of old, and healthy forests. 

That Saturday morning, we drove up along the western border of the sale to check out unit 1300, an older stand that the Forest Service has proposed to be commercially thinned. Diving into the unit from the gravel road, we walked over soft forest ground, covered with snow, wet moss and decomposing wood.  We came across a couple of rapidly flowing streams ,and we all had very different approaches to crossing. The braver of us used the leap and pray method, others strategically scouted out a route over solid logs, and some of us mistakenly picked mushy logs to step on that resulted in puddles in our boots… ok maybe that was just me. But once we crossed the last stream we walked into a beautiful meadow with an epic old alder snag (pictured above)! 

We then broke into smaller groups to tackle different parts of the unit and cover as much ground as possible. My group decided to check out the southeast corner area of the unit. We walked through the forest that was between two streams and taught folks new to field checking how to collect data such as diameter-at-breast-height measurement of trees, slope measurement and canopy coverage estimations. We animatedly shared our plant and tree identification knowledge with each other as we walked through the diverse area. One of the environmental studies students shared their dream of seeing a spotted owl before they lose the chance due to the destruction of their remaining habitat, like the lush forest full of snags and old legacy trees that we were in. I, being the new field checking intern, was mostly focused on my map — adamant to not get our group lost. 

As we entered new areas of the forest we kept exclaiming “there is no need to log this!” The trees were healthy, with scattered remnants of ancient Douglas firs, cedars and hemlocks. Natural gaps were present throughout the area and plenty of downed decomposing wood littered the forest floor. Everything was very much alive, growing and thriving.

As we walked between the two streams, we got pretty fond of the area and named it after the fertile land between two rivers, Mesopotamia. It was an epic last jaunt in the woods with Cascadia before the state mandated lockdown! Walking through this beautiful old forest with a great group of knowledgeable folks, I fondly recalled my first field checking trip last spring at Breitenbush. After that trip I was sold on forest defense work, especially field checking, as it consists of venturing in wild places and directly utilizes experiential learning. Now, it’s a year later and I’m in a new forest, but I still feel the same sense of amazement and joy at the experience of field checking. 

It is very clear that the resilient forest in this unit is well on its way to becoming an old healthy forest, and does not have the attributes that necessitate commercial thinning. Just walking through the area, I couldn’t help but feel guilty, for the forest floor was teeming with life, and I felt that I was disturbing so many complex biological processes. Logging equipment and the construction of new roads across the swiftly flowing waterways and rich forest floor, would cause drastically more harm than good in this forest stand. Cascadia Wildlands urges the Forest Service to drop all regeneration harvest (aka clearcut) for older stands in the Flat Country sale, and choose Alternative 3 in the Environmental Impact Statement.

No Clearcutting and No Logging Old Forest in Flat Country!

Field checking is the most effective way for the public to protect our forests. Field checking directly contributes to shaping our land ethic and knowledge about the incredible but threatened Pacific Northwest forests. Our government agencies too often rush through the survey process, relying more and more heavily on remote technology to determine what a forest “needs,” and often missing what’s on the ground in front of them. All to sell off the forest to the highest bidder. Oftentimes, old native forests are listed as under 80 years old, waterways go unmarked, and essential habitat for key species are overlooked. Sometimes, we uncover old-growth patches tucked deep off trail that we name—like Flat Country’s Mesopotamia—and plan to visit again and again.  

Identifying and advocating for threatened forests is a responsibility of the public, and one we should take seriously. I would be more upset at the injustice of destructive logging happening in public lands except that it has given me the chance to venture into forests all over our state, build relationships with community members of all ages, and learn vast ecological knowledge. I will be spending this spring field checking with my “quarantine circle,” and I’m so grateful to be able to safely spend time outside and be of service to our forests during this pandemic. But I can’t wait for the time that we can all gather again and go field checking together!

The post INTERN-al UPDATE: A Snowy Field Check in Flat Country first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

UPDATE:

Early in 2022, in honor of Earth Day, President Biden signed an executive order (EO) on Strengthening the Nation’s Forests, Communities, and Local Economies. The EO represents progress in its acknowledgement that old-growth and, notably, mature forests are essential against the worst impacts of climate change. It marks an incredible leap in the right direction, but it does not actually protect these forests from the greatest threat that they face: logging. The question remains how exactly federal agencies are to incorporate the EO’s directives into standing, threatened old-growth and mature forest timber sales like Flat Country.

In response to the EO, Cascadia Wildlands and our allies submitted a “significant new information” letter detailing 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 and January 2021 final Record of Decision (ROD) for the sale 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 a supplemental environmental review of the new information that arose since 2020. As of Fall, 2022, we had yet to hear a response from the Forest Service.

Then, the U.S. Forest Service ended 2022 with a decision worth celebrating. The federal agency decided to withdraw its plans for the Flat Country timber sale, which would have affected some more than 100-year-old trees in a nearly 75,000 acre project area in the Willamette National Forest near McKenzie Bridge. The Eugene Weekly reported on this withdrawal.

We are still watching this forest for any changes or additional sales that may arise.

ABOUT THE SALE:

The Flat Country timber sale was recently featured in a scathing report released by the Climate Forest campaign as the second worst timber sale happening on public lands today in a report titled Worth More Standing.

The Flat Country timber sale is located on the traditional lands of the Molalla, Kalapuya and other indigenous peoples who’ve lived, traded and traveled on these lands since time immemorial.

Map of the Flat Country project area (click image to enlarge), adjacent to the Mt. Washington Wilderness. The southern portion of the sale, which begins at the junction of Hwy 126 and Hwy 242 is approx. 6 miles from the town of McKenzie Bridge, Oregon and on the opposite side of the McKenzie River. This map is available as a georeferenced PDF here.

Why This Forest Is Special

The Flat Country timber sale is within the Willamette National Forest in an area that extends from Scott Mountain to the upper reaches of the McKenzie River. Moss-covered Douglas firs and western hemlocks grow to more than 200 feet tall and 5 to 6 feet wide. Delicate vine maple and Pacific rhododendron combine in the understory to make these forests as magical as they are important. Almost 20 years ago, the Forest Service largely stopped logging older forests in western Oregon and western Washington following massive public outcry over decades of clearcutting these incomparable cathedral forests. However, 1 million acres of mature and old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest are not protected from federal logging. The Flat Country project is set to destroy a large swath of these irreplaceable forests.

Flat Country Timber Sale

This timber sale will aggressively log 2,000 acres of older forests in the McKenzie River headwaters, which provide fresh drinking water to hundreds of thousands of residents in the Willamette Valley. Several types of logging will be used, including clearcutting about 1,000 acres of mature and old-growth Douglas fir and western hemlock stands up to 170 years old.

Carbon and Biodiversity

The western Cascades produces some of the world’s oldest, largest carbon-storing champions. Among tree species, Douglas fir is a marathon runner rather than a sprinter and at 80 years it’s just begun to hit its stride. The trees will keep growing for centuries, accumulating massive amounts of captured atmospheric carbon in biomass. Snags and downed logs add significantly to carbon storage because of their slow rate of decay, helping combat climate change and providing critical wildlife habitat. Olallie and Anderson Creeks provide critical habitat for endangered bull trout and other aquatic species. The Forest Service admits this project will destroy and degrade habitat essential for threatened northern spotted owls, red tree voles, pileated woodpeckers, martens and goshawks.

Why These Trees Should Remain Standing

The Forest Service claims the Flat Country project is needed to “provide a sustainable supply of timber products” and to “improve stand conditions.” Yet private timber lands in Oregon are prolific producers of lumber, making Oregon the top softwood lumber producer in the country. The Forest Service’s claim that mature forests are “overstocked” are based on tree density measures developed for managing industrial wood production plantations, which is an inappropriate measure for natural forests. The planning documents said some “legacy” trees will be protected, but clearcutting everything except the largest trees is still a harmful clearcut.

The Future of Mature and Old-Growth Trees in Willamette National Forest

The groundbreaking 1994 Pacific Northwest Forest Plan protected mature and old-growth forests and trees 80 years and older from logging. However, the plan left 1 million acres of late successional forests open to logging. The Flat Country project is an attack on some of the last remaining mature and old-growth forests in the western Cascades. These trees are at grave risk unless there’s a federal policy to permanently protect them.

Cascadia Wildlands encourages the Forest Service to focus thinning on younger plantation stands under 80 years old, where thinning can help wildlife and also provide trees to local mills. Importantly, we encourage the Forest Service to drop all regeneration harvest on older stands, as this is incredibly destructive to forest and watershed health.

Check out what we saw during a trip out to Flat Country; written by our Field Checking Intern, Courtney Kaltenbach.

COMMUNITY OPPOSITION:

The contentious timber sale has been opposed by Congressman Peter DeFazio and prominent forest ecologists Jerry Franklin and Norm Johnson, often hailed as the primary architects of the Northwest Forest Plan (take a look at their gorgeous website). Cascadia Wildlands WildCAT volunteers have field checked virtually every unit in the massive timber sale area and have worked to highlight the importance of protecting this forest ecosystem. In addition to field checks, WildCATs have led public hikes, hosted information sessions, and tabled at events throughout western Oregon to bring attention to the egregious sale

In October, 2022 a “kayaktivist” flotilla of over 100 concerned community members rallied on the McKenzie River to protest Flat Country and call on the Biden Administration to drop the sale once and for all. 

HOW TO HELP:

At the moment, you can keep writing your letters to the editor and congress members opposing this project. You can reach out to agency leadership too — to let them know they are displeased with mature and old-growth logging in our public forests.

AGENCY LEADERSHIP —

• NEPA Planner at McKenzie River Ranger District, Willamette National Forest, U.S. Forest Service, Dean Schlichting: deandschlichting@fs.fed.us
• District Ranger, McKenzie River Ranger District, Willamette National Forest, Darren Cross: darren.cross@usda.gov
• USFS Regional Forester, Glenn Casamassa: glenn.casamassa@usda.gov
• Sec. of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack: Tom.Vilsack@osec.usda.gov
• Chief of U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service, Randy Moore: randy.moore@usda.gov

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