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Contact:
Madeline Cowen, Grassroots Organizer, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 434-1463
Victoria Wingell, Forests and Climate Campaigner, Oregon Wild
John Persell, Staff Attorney, Oregon Wild
Ryan Talbott, Pacific Northwest Conservation Advocate, WildEarth Guardians

Public comment period concludes for pathway to rulemaking on how Forest Service manages national forests

Eugene, OR — More than 500,000 people have submitted public comments to the U.S. Forest Service calling for the agency to adopt a rule that protects mature and old-growth trees and forests on federal land as a cornerstone of U.S. climate policy. Activists were joined by organizers from the Climate Forests Campaign, a coalition which includes Oregon Wild, Cascadia Wildlands, and WildEarth Guardians, to deliver some of these public comments at an event at the Wayne Morse Federal Courthouse in Eugene on Thursday, July 20, 2023.

PHOTOS AVAILABLE FOR MEDIA USE

In April, the Forest Service issued a rulemaking proposal to improve the climate resilience of federally managed forests. The public comment period on the proposal closed today.

“Hundreds of thousands of people from every age group and every corner of the country weighed in to urge President Biden to enact a clear rule protecting mature and old growth forests from the Forest Service chopping block,” said Victoria Wingell, Forest and Climate Campaigner for Oregon Wild. “Public support has never been higher for bold, effective solutions to keep carbon in the forests and out of the atmosphere.”

In addition to the hundreds of thousands of people who weighed in, dozens of environmental and grassroots organizations submitted comments, including the Climate Forests Campaign, a coalition of more than 120 organizations working to protect mature and old-growth trees and forests on federal land from logging.

“It’s clear that the public wants old-growth and mature forests and trees to be protected,” said Madeline Cowen, Grassroots Organizer at Cascadia Wildlands. “These critical forests store carbon.  They protect imperiled species.  They safeguard key waterways.  It’s well past time for the federal land managers to adopt a rule that provides durable protections for our forests, and recognizes them for what they are: a natural climate solution and a key ally in the fight for a livable future.”

Activists and environmental advocates gathered today to celebrate the amount of public support. At 11:00 a.m. on Thursday at the federal courthouse in Eugene, attorneys for Climate Forests Campaign members Oregon Wild and WildEarth Guardians presented oral argument in a lawsuit against the Forest Service. Oregon Wild and WildEarth Guardians have challenged the Forest Service’s unlawful authorization of commercial logging on the Fremont-Winema National Forest without proper environmental analysis. The agency authorized 29,000 acres of commercial logging, including the 16,000-acre South Warner Project, using a “categorical exclusion” to avoid detailed environmental review and public involvement. 

“The South Warner Project includes commercial logging of large, old trees under the guise of “timber stand and wildlife habitat improvement,” said John Persell, Staff Attorney at Oregon Wild.  “It is yet another example of why a national rule protecting mature and old-growth forest stands is needed to address the climate and biodiversity crises.”

Earlier this month, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) concluded a public comment period for its own proposed rulemaking, with hundreds of thousands of people calling on the federal government to protect mature and old-growth trees and forests from logging. In March, the BLM announced its wide-ranging “Conservation and Landscape Health” rule, with a goal to “promote ecosystem resilience on public lands” and included an acknowledgment of the importance of mature and old-growth trees and forests. 

In addition to the two proposed rules, the Forest Service and the BLM released an inventory of mature and old-growth forests, the first of its kind, as required by the executive order President Biden signed on Earth Day 2022. The White House directed the Forest Service and the BLM to inventory and conserve mature and old-growth forests on federal land, and to implement policies to address threats facing forests.

The Climate Forests Campaign has been elevating calls from community members, scientists, and activists around the country about the necessity of protecting these mature and old-growth trees and forests, including from the ongoing threat of logging. The coalition has highlighted the threat to mature and old-growth forests and trees in two reports, citing 22 of the worst logging projects on Forest Service and BLM-managed forests.

Mature and old-growth forests are some of the most effective tools available for mitigating climate change and promoting biodiversity. They store huge amounts of carbon and keep it out of the atmosphere. They also provide essential wildlife habitat and are the most fire-resilient trees in the forest. As the world experiences record-shattering heat and widespread climate disasters, protecting these forests is critical for preventing the worst impacts of climate change.

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The post Press Release: Over half a million people call on Forest Service to protect mature, old-growth forests and trees 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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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.

Contacts:
Nick Cady, Cascadia Wildlands, (314) 482-3746, nick@old.cascwild.org
Jeff Miller, Center for Biological Diversity, (510) 499-9185, jmiller@biologicaldiversity.org
George Sexton, KS Wild, (541) 778-8120, gs@kswild.org

Lawsuit Launched to Protect Rare Salamander in California, Oregon

SAN FRANCISCO — Conservation groups today filed a notice of intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to respond to a 2018 petition for Endangered Species Act protection for the Siskiyou Mountains salamander.

This rare terrestrial salamander lives only in the Klamath-Siskiyou region of southern Oregon and Northern California, primarily in old-growth forests. The species is threatened by plans from the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Bureau of Land Management to increase logging in southern Oregon.

“This rare salamander is quickly losing habitat to logging and wildfire and needs protection before it disappears forever,” said Jeff Miller, senior conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity. “With the Trump administration dragging its feet on safeguarding this species, we have no choice but to go to court.”

“The threats to the Siskiyou Mountains salamander just keep getting worse while the Fish and Wildlife Service plays politics,” said George Sexton with KS Wild. “In particular the BLM and Forest Service decisions to target salamander habitat for post-fire logging need to stop if these iconic salamanders are to have a chance to survive and thrive.”

“This unique Pacific Northwest salamander deserves protections from impending extinction,” said Nick Cady with Cascadia Wildlands. “Not only does the species play an important ecological role by contributing to nutrient flow and soil health, this salamander is a distinct part of this region’s natural heritage.”

In March 2018 the Center for Biological Diversity, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, Environmental Protection Information Center and Cascadia Wildlands filed a formal petition asking the Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the Siskiyou Mountains salamander under the Endangered Species Act.

Background
The best habitat for the Siskiyou Mountains salamander (Plethodon stormi) is stabilized rock talus in old-growth forest, especially areas covered with thick moss. Mature forest canopy helps maintain a cool and stable moist microclimate where they can thrive.

There are two distinct populations of the Siskiyou Mountains salamander, separated by the mountain range’s crest. A larger northern population lives in the Applegate River drainage in southern Oregon, while the smaller southern population is in California’s Klamath River drainage. Most known Siskiyou Mountains salamander locations are on public lands managed by the BLM and the Forest Service.

Conservation groups first petitioned to protect the salamander under the Endangered Species Act in 2004. To prevent the species’ listing, the BLM and Fish and Wildlife Service agreed in 2007 to protect habitat for 110 high-priority salamander sites in the Applegate River watershed. In 2008 the Fish and Wildlife Service denied protection to the salamander based on this conservation agreement and old-growth forest protections provided by the Northwest Forest Plan.

Under the Northwest Forest Plan, the BLM and Forest Service were required to survey for rare species like the salamander and designate protected buffers from logging where the animals were found. But the Western Oregon Plan Revision adopted by the BLM in 2016 substantially increased logging allowed in western Oregon forests, undermining those habitat protections.

The post Lawsuit Launched to Protect Rare Siskiyou Mountains Salamander first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Northwest Forest Plan science synthesis review begins

Will help inform forest management efforts in Pacific Northwest

The post Science Review Begins for Northwest Forest Plan Revision first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Given this pattern of post-fire salvage logging, folks at Cascadia were initially surprised and suspicious to hear about Forest Service and BLM plans to create early-seral habitat through commercial logging.  The agency plan was to create this early-seral habitat by logging middle-aged plantations. 

These conifer plantations are 40 to 80 year old forests created from previous clearcutting, pesticide spraying, and dense replanting.  The logging would essentially create large meadow-like openings between clumps of reserved forests.  These reserves would contain the biggest trees in the stand, and areas with unique composition, for example a pocket of western red cedar or large hardwoods.  30% of the project area would be reserved from harvest in these clumps, and there would also be large, green trees, 12 to 18 per acre, distributed across the openings to provide connectivity for wildlife.  The logging concept was called ecological forestry or variable retention harvest (VRH).

However, when the timber industry and Bureau of Land Management got a hold of this idea to create early-seral habitat it quickly morphed into an “ecological” excuse to clearcut older forest.  We began seeing dozens of proposed timber sales aimed at converting older mature forest, not young plantations, into early-seral habitat.  The proposed reserves quickly were replaced by already existing buffers in place for imperiled species and around waterways, and the dispersed green tree retention across the logged areas was eliminated.  It was readily apparent that this novel approach had been high-jacked; it had become an ecological justification for clearcutting.  This was a very dangerous idea, because it could arguably be used in existing protected areas and owl habitat.

This victory threw a major wrench in a number of other “ecological forestry” projects being planned by the Forest Service and BLM, especially the projects slated for older forests. 

Cool Soda was one of these projects on the Sweet Home Ranger District of the Willamette National Forest.  The project was fairly large, over thousands of acres, and was part of a collaborative process between private timber owners, the Willamette National Forest and conservation groups and other stakeholders trying to get at restoration needs on the landscape across a “checkerboard” ownership.

The post Robbing Peter to Pay Paul: The Abuse of “Ecological Forestry” on our Public Lands in Western Oregon first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Contact:
Nick Cady, Legal Director 541-434-1463 nick@old.cascwild.org

Cascadia Wildlands to US Forest Service—18 Years is Too Long to Wait for Action on Bull Trout

Eugene, OR — Cascadia Wildlands filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management over their failure to consult and  consider the impacts of projects and actions on the critical habitat of federally threatened Bull Trout (Salvelinus confluentus) throughout its range in the Pacific Northwest.

“As a fish that requires cold, clean water and complex aquatic structures, the presence or absence of Bull Trout in our streams and waterways is a true indication of whether or not we are fulfilling our obligation to protect, maintain and enhance our aquatic heritage,” said Nick Cady Cascadia’s Legal Director. “ The current management plans for Bull Trout were put into place in the 1990’s and were only supposed to serve as interim guidance for 18 months. We have been waiting 18 years for the Federal government to release management plans for this important and sensitive fish.”

According to the Endangered Species Act,  agencies like the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Forest Service are required to consider the impacts of projects and actions such as their forest plans on listed species and their critical habitats.  In September of 2010, the US Fish and Wildlife Service after a long legal battle finally designated critical habitat for the species across the Pacific Northwest.  However, the Forest Service has failed to update its 18-year-old conservation plan for the species and ensure that agency actions do not destroy or adversely modify these areas critical to the species persistence.

Bull Trout are native to North America.  In the US they are found in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, western Montana and a single river in northern Nevada.  They have been likely extirpated in their historic range in northern California.

Bull trout have strict habitat requirements and need cold water (below 55 °F or 13 °C), clean gravel beds, plentiful cover such as downed timber and undercut banks, and large systems of intact waterways for their spawning migrations.  As a result, they prefer cold lakes, deep pools in rivers and high mountain streams. Bull trout occasionally visit ocean habitats and have been known to use coastal waters to migrate from one river to another.

“Bull Trout are the “canaries in the coal mine” for aquatic ecosystems in the Pacific Northwest,” said Bob Ferris Executive Director of Cascadia Wildlands. “If we fail to respond to monitoring information and make the adjustments dictated by climate change, we are ignoring vital feedback about our land and resource management practices.”

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