Contacts:
Peter Jensen, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 434-1463
Lindsey Hutchison, Willamette Riverkeeper
John Persell, Oregon Wild

Eugene, Oregon – Today, conservation organizations Willamette Riverkeeper, Cascadia Wildlands, and Oregon Wild filed suit against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), challenging the agency’s authorization of the approximately 4,600-acre Big League Project in the Calapooia and Mohawk River Watersheds northeast of Eugene. According to the groups’ complaint, the BLM violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by failing to take the required “hard look” at the impacts that the Big League Project would have on a host of environmental values, including spotted owl habitat, carbon storage, stream flows, and water quality. Specifically, this project plans to clearcut the last and best older forest stands in the Calapooia and Mohawk River Watersheds. 

Of particular concern, the BLM failed to fully analyze the effects of logging and road construction activities on the threatened Upper Willamette River spring Chinook salmon. According to a 2011 analysis by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), these salmon are at a “very high risk” of extinction and logging units within the Big League Project directly abut the species’ critical habitat in the Calapooia River.

Due to impacts on Chinook salmon, the conservation groups also gave notice to the BLM and NMFS that the agencies are in violation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by failing to account for changed conditions in the Calapooia Watershed following the 2020 Holiday Farm Fire.

“It’s outrageous and completely unacceptable that the BLM and NMFS have not acted in accordance with bedrock environmental laws. The BLM’s pursuit of clearcut logging along the Calapooia puts the Upper Willamette River spring Chinook salmon’s already fragile habitat directly at risk,” said Lindsey Hutchison of Willamette Riverkeeper.

The groups claim that the changed conditions in the Calapooia Watershed make the BLM’s timber sale unlawful. Particularly, while most of the 2020 Holiday Farm Fire burned at a low or moderate severity, a significant portion experienced high or moderate soil burn severity. Fire-damaged soils have high rates of root mortality and increased rates of water runoff and erosion. The fire affected nearly 14,000 acres of the Calapooia Watershed, eliminating streamside vegetation, destabilizing streambanks, and elevating sediment in the river. Such changed conditions make the BLM’s reliance on NMFS’s 2018 Biological Opinion (BiOp) to support the Big League Project and associated timber sales unlawful. 

“Once again, the BLM is rushing to log without fully considering how their actions impact the larger landscape,” said Peter Jensen of Cascadia Wildlands. “Our forests and watersheds will pay the price, and vulnerable spotted owl and salmon populations will be pushed even closer to extinction.”

In the 2018 BiOp, NMFS recognized that the BLM’s logging program would affect designated critical habitat by raising stream temperatures, introducing sediment into streams, reducing large wood recruitment into streams, and altering peak and base flows of streams. The added effects of the 2020 Holiday Farm Fire compound the harm that will result from the logging and road work authorized for the Big League Project. By ignoring the cumulative impacts on Chinook salmon, the BLM risks severely degrading the species’ habitat in pursuit of timber volume.

“Public lands are some of the last places for imperiled wildlife and quality salmon habitat, where mature and old-growth forests can grow to help us fight climate change and make the landscape more resilient,” said John Persell of Oregon Wild. “The BLM is performing a lot of bureaucratic gymnastics to argue that turning these refuge forests into another series of clearcuts, surrounded by more clearcuts, is going to have ‘no significant impact.'”

The Upper Willamette River spring Chinook salmon are a genetically distinct group, well-adapted to the natural river flows and seasonal changes of the Willamette River and its tributaries. Logging can degrade its stream habitat by muddying waters, altering riverbed stability, and obstructing migration corridors. All of these changes harm the survival of these unique salmon. Efforts to protect their habitat and ensure clean water, stable riverbeds, and clear migration paths are crucial, as their populations have sharply declined, with counts of wild Upper Willamette River spring Chinook averaging less than 10,000 fish annually at Willamette Falls since 2010. Historically, the Upper Willamette River supported hundreds of thousands of spring Chinook salmon. In the 1920s, approximately 300,000 adult spring Chinook salmon were observed passing Willamette Falls.

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. 

Willamette Riverkeeper is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1996 with thousands of members in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. Willamette Riverkeeper focuses on protecting and restoring the resources of the Willamette River Basin in Oregon and works on programs and projects ranging from the Clean Water Act compliance and river education to Superfund cleanup and restoring habitat.

Oregon Wild represents 20,000 members and supporters who share our mission to protect and restore Oregon’s wildlands, wildlife, and water as an enduring legacy. Our goal is to protect areas that remain intact while striving to restore areas that have been degraded.

The post Press Release: Conservation Groups Challenge BLM’s “Big League” Logging Project Due to Impacts on Imperiled Spring Chinook Salmon Habitat and Other Values first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

This month, conservation groups finalized a legal agreement with the Bureau of Land Management to reverse a Trump-era rule excluding vastly more logging in post-fire landscapes from detailed environmental review. The agreement resolves a legal challenge the groups brought against the agency in October, 2021.

“Categorical exclusions” allow agencies to approve actions having minimal environmental effects without detailed environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act. The Trump rule increased the maximum area for categorical exclusions permitting logging of “dead or dying trees” from 250 acres to 3,000 acres—a 1,200% increase. The rule also doubled the maximum amount of permitted road construction from one-half to one mile of permanent road. The previous categorical exclusion rule required those roads to be temporary. The Bureau will now engage in rulemaking to remove the categorical exclusion language from its NEPA implementing procedures and revert to the old guidance. In the meantime, BLM will refrain from using the categorical exclusion.

“The categorical exclusion defied the overwhelming scientific consensus that post-disturbance logging is a harmful ecological ‘tax’ on the environment,” said Susan Jane Brown, Wildlands and Wildlife Program director at the Western Environmental Law Center. “While the Biden administration did not independently choose to correct these harmful and illegal policies, we are pleased our case has prompted this needed correction. Some things are too important to brush off.”

“This outcome is a significant win for imperiled species, like coho salmon, Pacific fisher, and the northern spotted owl,” said Josh Laughlin, executive director at Cascadia Wildlands. “No longer can the government plan massive timber sales in fragile, post-fire environments without a full accounting of their impacts on the environment.”

“The BLM has a long history of throwing out the rulebook when conducting post-fire clearcutting,” said George Sexton of KS Wild. “This agreement establishes that BLM timber planners can’t simply dodge the law to achieve logging targets.”

“When managing our public lands, BLM should uphold the letter and spirit of the law. This means involving the public and carefully weighing environmental trade-offs,” said Doug Heiken of Oregon Wild. “Categorical exclusions are a loophole that should be limited to truly low-impact actions that don’t raise any public concerns.”

“There’s no ecological justification for post-fire logging. It’s like mugging a burn victim.,” said co-plaintiff Soda Mountain Wilderness Council’s Dave Willis. “I expect BLM will still try, but it won’t be as easy for them now. It will now be harder for BLM to hide the negative ecological impacts of its post-fire intentions.”

“Post-fire ecosystems are extremely sensitive and categorical exclusions are only meant for minor actions with minimal impact,” said Willamette Riverkeeper staff attorney Lindsey Hutchison. “This settlement is a win for the species that rely on these ecosystems, will allow for the public to be involved in these actions, and will ensure that environmental impacts are fully assessed.”

Background:
General ecological concerns associated with post-fire logging include impacts to soils, understory vegetation, fuel loads, and post-fire habitat features including snags and burned logs. Post-fire logging almost always prioritizes removing larger dead trees highly valuable to many wildlife.

The best available science indicates that post-fire logging is detrimental to wildlife because of the vital role down wood and snags play in meeting life history needs of wildlife species. Unlogged, naturally regenerated, young stands are some of the most ecologically complex wildlife habitat and essential to many species. The biodiversity of these stands’ rivals that of old-growth forests, and young stands are one of the rarest forest types in the Pacific Northwest. Post-fire logging also harms big game populations by removing hiding cover after the landscape is changed by fire and by increasing adverse impacts related to construction and use of roads. Post-fire logging negatively affects water quality: By adding another stressor to burned watersheds, post-fire logging impedes recovery of aquatic systems, lowers water quality, and shrinks the distribution and abundance of native aquatic species. Post-fire- logging worsens fire effects and increases runoff volume, runoff velocities, and sediment concentrations. The best available science shows post-fire logging increases subsequent fire severity—it does not reduce the intensity or severity of later fires.

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The post Press Release: Forest Advocates Knock out Massive Trump Post-fire Logging Loophole first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.