Contact:    
Nick Cady, Legal Director, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 434-1463          
Noah Greenwald, Center for Biological Diversity
Quinn Read, Bird Alliance of Oregon

Clearcutting plans halted to protect threatened seabird within former Elliott State Forest parcel

Eugene, OR — Today, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a 2022 ruling from the District Court of Oregon that prevents Scott Timber Co. from clearcutting old-growth forest within Oregon’s Elliott State Forest. The court held that the proposed logging of the 355-acre Benson Ridge parcel by the subsidiary of Roseburg Forest Products would harm threatened marbled murrelets in violation of the federal Endangered Species Act. The case marks the first time a private timber company has been held to account in court for potential violations of the federal Endangered Species Act in Oregon.

“After a decade of advocacy, the rare old-growth in Benson Ridge is at last protected from private industry chainsaws,” said Nick Cady, legal director at Cascadia Wildlands. “This ruling is significant for the imperiled marbled murrelet and will hopefully dissuade land managers from logging the little remaining coastal old-growth forest in the state.”

The 82,000-acre Elliott State Forest, located near Coos Bay, has been mired in controversy for over a decade. In 2012, following a decision by the state of Oregon to significantly increase logging levels on the Elliott, Cascadia Wildlands, the Center for Biological Diversity and Bird Alliance of Oregon (formerly Portland Audubon) sued the state for illegally logging occupied marbled murrelet habitat on the Elliott and other state forests. After a judge issued a legal injunction, the state settled the suit in 2014, agreeing to drop 26 timber sales and stop logging in occupied murrelet habitat.

Following the settlement, however, the state sold the Benson Ridge parcel and two other tracts, totaling 1,453 acres, even though they contained mature and old-growth forests that were occupied by imperiled marbled murrelets. Prior to the finalization of the sales, the timber purchasers were specifically warned by the three conservation organizations that logging these forests would violate the federal Endangered Species Act. The state finalized the sales regardless.

“I’m absolutely thrilled that the marbled murrelets of Benson Ridge are safe from logging,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “This court victory makes it clear that timber companies are no more exempt from ending the extinction crisis that plagues these enduring seabirds than the rest of us.”

The Benson Ridge case was originally filed in August 2016 claiming violations of the federal Endangered Species Act, which strictly prohibits “take” (statutorily defined as including harm, harassment or killing) of threatened species like the marbled murrelet. Unlike any other seabird, murrelets nest on the wide, mossy branches of large, old-growth trees, making a daily trip of up to 35 miles inland to bring fish to their young.

“This entire Elliott State Forest saga demonstrates the incredible cynicism that underpins the treatment of mature and old-growth forests in Oregon,” said Bird Alliance of Oregon conservation director, Quinn Read. “Land managers, both public and private, continue to try to convert these rare old forests into timber plantations. This is not only ecologically devastating but illegal.”

The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court holding stating: “…the Benson Tract is occupied and used for nesting by marbled murrelets, the logging operation would eliminate 49 acres of this occupied habitat, and the clearcut would remove nests and prevent returning murrelets from nesting or engaging in other breeding-related activities there…” and noted how the District Court explained  “the timber harvest would directly fragment a continuous stand of occupied forest and, using scientific studies, [demonstrated] how this fragmentation would foreseeably and negatively impact the murrelets’ breeding behaviors.” Opinion at 25.

“This case exemplifies the vital importance of citizen suits in our fight to save the planet. The State of Oregon knew the Marbled Murrelet used this land, but sold it anyways to be clearcut. The Federal Government knew the Marbled Murrelet used the Benson Ridge tract for nesting and reproduction, yet took no action to stop Scott Timber Company’s logging plans. Only through the decades-long effort of these public interest organizations was this land and its nesting Marbled Murrelets protected – in perpetuity – from devastation. Moving forward, timber companies should pay close attention to the existence of Marbled Murrelets on their property, as we certainly will be,” said Daniel Synder of Public Justice.

In addition to winning the Benson Ridge case, the organizations successfully legally challenged the other Elliott privatization efforts with a separate lawsuit.

In recent years, a diversity of stakeholders have successfully worked to “decouple” the Elliott State Forest from the Common School Fund through a series of legislative appropriations and transition it into the Elliott State Research Forest. No longer is there an obligation to clearcut the Elliott to fund public schools in Oregon, and the forest will now be managed with an emphasis on older forest conservation and research.

The conservation organizations were represented by Daniel Kruse of Kruse & Saint Marie LLC, Daniel Snyder of Public Justice, Nick Cady of Cascadia Wildlands and Brian Segee of the Center for Biological Diversity.

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Cascadia Wildlands works on behalf of its over 15,000 members and supporters to defend and restore 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 1.1 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

Bird Alliance of Oregon (formerly Portland Audubon) was founded in 1902 to promote the understanding, enjoyment and protection of native birds, other wildlife and their habitats. Today, it represents over 16,000 members in Oregon.

Founded in January 1982, Public Justice (originally Trial Lawyers for Public Justice) is a nonprofit legal advocacy organization that takes on purveyors of corporate corruption, sexual abusers and harassers, and polluters who ravage the environment.

The post Press Release: Ninth Circuit Upholds Conservationists’ Efforts to Stop Coastal Old-Growth Logging first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Contacts:
Bethany Cotton, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 434-1463
Matthew Bishop, Western Environmental Law Center
Larry Campbell, Friends of the Bitterroot
Keith Hammer, Swan View Coalition
Lindsay Larris, WildEarth Guardians
Mike Garrity, Alliance for the Wild Rockies

Today, after more than 20 years of advocacy by wildlife conservation groups, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (the Service) found that wolverines warrant federal protections as a threatened species. Numbering only about 300 in the contiguous U.S., snow-dependent wolverine populations have suffered from climate change, habitat loss, trapping, and other anthropogenic pressures.

The Service prepared a mostly strong, interim Endangered Species Act 4(d) rule, which serves as a road map for the agency to aid in wolverine recovery and grants specific protections and exceptions for the species. The agency will also prepare a wolverine recovery plan and identify protected critical habitat in the future, and may prepare a plan for reintroduction into Colorado as well. Wildlife groups do have concerns about language in that rule allowing incidental wolverine “take” from trapping “conducted in a manner that uses best practices to minimize the potential for capture and mortality of wolverines.” This coalition isn’t sure this is possible for wolverines because they are scavengers and known as “trap junkies.” This coalition of groups will  thus provide feedback on this and other provisions in the interim 4(d) rule during the comment period.

Wildlife conservation groups have twice successfully challenged the Service in federal court for relying on flawed science to deny wolverines Endangered Species Act protections. The court most recently ordered the Service to make a new decision by Nov. 30, 2023, resulting in today’s threatened listing determination.

“I’m glad the Fish and Wildlife Service finally ignored the misplaced policy concerns raised by states like Idaho, Wyoming, and even Montana over the last decade, and made a listing decision based solely on the best available science,” said Matthew Bishop, attorney with the Western Environmental Law Center. “Wolverines can’t wait another year or two for the long-overdue protections they deserve. That said, we are concerned about  the allowances for trapping in wolverine habitat, and we will be taking a closer look at that. We doubt it’s possible to trap without the risk of take. Wolverines—a crucial species for many ecosystems throughout the western U.S.—deserve the fullest protections possible. Given the small population and climate change quickly shrinking the snowy habitat wolverines rely on to survive, time is of the essence.”

“The science and the law could not be more clear: Wolverines deserve Endangered Species Act protections,” said Bethany Cotton, conservation director with Cascadia Wildlands. “We are gratified that at long last, the Fish and Wildlife Service did its job by following the science and affording this iconic climate-impacted species essential safeguards.”

Attorneys from the Western Environmental Law Center represented WildEarth Guardians, Cascadia Wildlands, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Cottonwood Environmental Law Center, Footloose Montana, Friends of the Bitterroot, Friends of the Wild Swan, George Wuerthner, Helena Hunters and Anglers Association, Native Ecosystems Council, Oregon Wild, Wildlands Network, and the Swan View Coalition on previous litigation.

The groups involved in the court victories leading to this decision will engage in the Service’s process to ensure wolverines benefit from the full protections under the law and make a strong recovery.

“The wolverine has been clawing for survival for far too long,” said Lindsay Larris, wildlife program director with WildEarth Guardians. “This decision is the first step towards the path for the wolverine to recover and reclaim their status as an icon of the Rocky Mountain West.” 

“We appreciate that the Fish and Wildlife Service finally listed wolverines as threatened, but their 4(d) rule, which allows wolverines to be trapped, is a road map for extinction, not recovery,” said Mike Garrity, executive director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies. “A state district court in Montana ruled in our favor in 2012 that wolverine trapping was illegal because there are so few wolverines. The Fish and Wildlife Service needs to follow the law like all Americans are required to do and come up with a plan to recover wolverines.”

“In the face of climate change, along with greater recreational use of wolverine high-elevation winter habitat, the wolverine deserves immediate listing under the Endangered Species Act,” said ecologist George Wuerthner.

“This decision is huge for Helena Hunters and Anglers Association,” said board member Gary Ingman. “Wolverine are an icon of wilderness and an indicator species of secure wildlife habitat, with benefits to many other species. We have supported this effort from the beginning, recognizing the declining status of wolverine in Montana and the west, starting with our group’s petition to halt wolverine trapping in Montana in 2012. We’ve spent countless hours as volunteers conducting winter surveys of tracks, collecting hair and scat samples for DNA analysis, and coordinating with other researchers to document wolverine status. We’ve worked hard lobbying for protection of wolverine habitat in forest plans and through travel management on public lands. It’s gratifying to see the Fish and Wildlife Service acknowledge the need for additional protection for wolverine in this uncertain and rapidly changing time.”

“Listing wolverine has been as elusive as the animal,” said Larry Campbell of Friends of the Bitterroot. “Thanks to the stamina and focus of citizen conservationists over many years it appears to be finally materializing before it’s too late.”

“A wolverine was recently found dead and skinned on a closed Forest Service road on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest and I found a dead wolverine on a closed Forest Service road on the Flathead National Forest in 2021,” said Keith Hammer, Chair of the Swan View Coalition. “Wolverine need these Endangered Species Act protections to get more effective road closures and habitat security from the Forest Service and other land management agencies.”

STUNNING photos for media use (PLEASE CREDIT PHOTOGRAPHER KALON BAUGHAN):
Wolverine in the High Country
Wolverine behind tree
Wolverine on hill
Wolverine in Montana
Wolverine – The Survivor

Quote from judge’s order in 2016 decision:
“[T]he Service’s decision against listing the wolverine as threatened under the ESA is arbitrary and capricious. No greater level of certainty is needed to see the writing on the wall for this snow-dependent species standing squarely in the path of global climate change. It has taken us twenty years to get to this point. It is the [Court’s] view that if there is one thing required of the Service under the ESA, it is to take action at the earliest possible, defensible point in time to protect against the loss of biodiversity within our reach as a nation. For the wolverine, that time is now.” Opinion at page 83.

Background:
Wolverines number only about 300 individuals in the contiguous U.S. and are dependent on areas that retain persistent snow into the spring months. Every wolverine den ever detected in the lower 48 States was in snow. Wolverines are built for cold, snowy environments. They wear a double-fur coat and have large snowshoe-like paws with the crampon claws that allow them to travel easily over snow and mountainous terrain. One study found 98% of all wolverine den sites in places with persistent late spring snowpack.

Imperiled by climate change, habitat loss, small population size and trapping, wolverines were first petitioned for Endangered Species Act protections in 2000. The Service found the petition did not contain adequate information to justify a listing. A federal court overturned that decision in 2006. The Service then issued a negative 12-month finding in 2008, which many of the groups on this statement challenged in court, resulting in a settlement that led to a new finding that wolverines should be protected under the Endangered Species Act, but that other priorities precluded the listing at that time. A landmark settlement which resolved the backlog of imperiled species awaiting protections then guaranteed a new finding for wolverines. In February 2013, the Service proposed listing the wolverine as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. In August 2014, however, the Service reversed course and issued a decision not to list the species, contradicting its own expert scientists’ recommendations. In April, 2016 the court overturned the Service’s decision not to list, reinstating wolverines’ status as a candidate species and requiring a new final rule. That court correctly noted that the Endangered Species Act directs the Service to make listing decisions based on the best available science, not the best possible science. In October 2020, the Service again decided not to list. A federal court rejected that decision in 2022, requiring the service to make a new determination by Nov. 30, 2023.

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The post Press Release: Wolverines listed as “threatened” under Endangered Species Act after 20-year conservation effort first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Contacts:
Nick Cady, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 434-1463
Sangye Ince-Johannsen, Western Environmental Law Center
George Sexton, KS Wild
Doug Heiken, Oregon Wild

Court: Approval of old-growth timber sales in northern spotted owl habitat violated Endangered Species Act

Late Friday, a judge in the District Court for the District of Oregon ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) justification for Bureau of Land Management (Bureau) timber sales totaling nearly 18,000 acres including in old growth forest violated the Endangered Species Act. The judge ruled against the Service’s claim that old-growth logging in the Poor Windy and Evans Creek timber sales on 15,848 acres of threatened northern spotted owl habitat would not harm the imperiled bird species.

“While we are pleased with this result, it goes to show how emboldened our public land managers have become in pursuing the almighty board-foot, that they are willing to tell the American people and a federal judge that logging thousands of acres of habitat occupied by a threatened species like the northern spotted owl will cause zero ‘harm,’” said Sangye Ince-Johannsen, attorney at the Western Environmental Law Center. “The agencies’ singular focus on extraction over stewardship should concern every Oregonian, but today I’m grateful the law forbids that in some cases.”   

“This ruling should serve as a wake-up call to the BLM,” said George Sexton, conservation director for KS Wild. “It’s time for the BLM to work with stakeholders to thin second-growth timber plantations to reduce fire hazard instead of chasing around controversial old-growth timber sales in the backcountry.”

Judge Aiken also found that the Bureau and the Service illegally failed to consult on the effects of the East Evans Creek and Milepost 97 wildfires that actively burned the timber sale area as the Service concluded its evaluation. The Milepost 97 fire burned 4,706 acres of northern spotted owl habitat and reduced canopy closure below 40% in a narrow but vitally important east-west habitat bridge. 

“These are fire-prone, dry areas, and we opposed this massive logging project because it would increase fire risks and hazards for the surrounding community,” said Nick Cady with Cascadia Wildlands. “The agencies keep pushing logging projects that are putting our communities at risk, and it is past time that fire impacts drive our land management decisions, especially on public lands.”

Finally, Judge Aiken faulted the agencies for failing to analyze the effect of habitat loss resulting from these logging projects on the competitive interactions between the barred and spotted owl. 

Judge Aiken wrote that the Service “was not faced with scientific uncertainty, but unanimity concerning the negative impact of reduced [nesting, roosting, and foraging] habitat and the barred owls’ threat to the spotted owl based on the barred owls’ ability to out-compete for food and shelter,” order at 23. “In offering an explanation counter to the evidence after considering important aspects of the problem, [the Service] ultimately minimized the effect of the action and its conclusions are not supported by the evidence,’” order at 22.

“The agencies need to recognize that when two territorial species are competing for the same rare old-growth habitat, any reduction of habitat from logging will increase the chances of extinction.” said Doug Heiken of Oregon Wild.

Images for media use:
Kelsey Furman of KS Wild in unit 23-09 of the Poor Windy old-growth timber sale (Credit: KS Wild)
Proposed new logging road location through an old-growth forest in the Poor Windy Timber Sale (Credit: KS Wild)
 

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The post Press Release: Court Rules Logging Project Violates Endangered Species Act first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Contacts:
Nick Cady, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 434-1463            
Noah Greenwald, Center for Biological Diversity
Bob Sallinger, Portland Audubon

 Old-Growth Clearcutting Would Imperil Threatened Marbled Murrelets

EUGENE, Ore. — Today, a U.S. District Court judge issued a ruling preventing Scott Timber from clearcutting old growth forest previously part of the Elliott State Forest. The court found that the proposed logging of the “Benson Ridge” parcel by the subsidiary of Roseburg Forest Products would harm and harass threatened marbled murrelets, in violation of the federal Endangered Species Act. The court’s ruling permanently enjoins logging of the occupied murrelet habitat.

In August 2016, Cascadia Wildlands, the Center for Biological Diversity and Portland Audubon filed suit seeking to block Scott Timber from clearcutting 49 acres of the 355-acre parcel of land because of the impacts to threatened marbled murrelets.

“Today’s ruling is groundbreaking because it holds a private timber company accountable for plans to destroy habitat essential for imperiled wildlife in Oregon,” said Nick Cady, legal director at Cascadia Wildlands. “This ruling establishes that private timber companies can no longer violate the Endangered Species Act with abandon.”

Marbled murrelets are listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act. The Act strictly prohibits “take” — which includes harming, wounding, harassing or killing — of protected species.  Marbled murrelets are sea birds with unique nesting requirements. They lay a single egg high in horizontal branches of old-growth trees within 40 miles of the coastline, and make daily trips to the Pacific to bring fish to their young once hatched.

Murrelets were documented in the stand proposed for clearcutting more than 200 times by both Coast Range Forest Watch, a group of citizens scientists who conduct murrelet surveys out of concern for their survival, and the logging company’s own contractors, leading the court to find that logging would harm murrelets “through the destruction and degradation of occupied murrelet habitat” and thereby impair the seabird’s ability to nest for “100 years or more.”

“I love marbled murrelets and I’m thrilled they got a little more protection from logging,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The state of Oregon, private timber companies, and all of us share a responsibility to stop extinction and protect forests. This decision is good news not only for murrelets, but for hundreds of other species and future generations.

In July of last year, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife uplisted the murrelet’s state protected status from threatened to endangered under Oregon’s Endangered Species Act. In response to a 2016 lawsuit, the Oregon Board of Forestry is in the process of developing rules to protect murrelet sites on state and private timber lands, but has dragged the process out for over five years and has yet to propose final rules. When presented with this lawsuit, the federal Fish and Wildlife Service declined to take up the case.

“Since their listing 30-years ago under the ESA, marbled murrelets have moved even closer to extinction in Oregon in large part because state and federal agencies have not done enough to protect and preserve the older forests on which they depend,” said Bob Sallinger, conservation director for Portland Audubon. “Hopefully this win and others that preceded it will encourage state and federal agencies to more aggressively pursue their responsibilities to protect and recover this amazing seabird that depends on Oregon’s older coastal forests to nest.”

The Benson Ridge parcel was acquired by Scott Timber as a part of the state of Oregon’s efforts to sell the Elliott State Forest in 2014. Cascadia Wildlands, Audubon, and the Center for Biological Diversity challenged those land sale efforts in state court in order to keep the much loved forest open to the public. In 2019, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled that the state’s efforts to sell the Elliott were illegal, and that the state’s understanding that these lands needed to be managed to maximize revenue were misplaced.

The court’s ruling builds on recent successful efforts to permanently protect the remainder of the Elliott State Forest. This past legislative session, the Elliott State Research Forest was created severing the link between old-growth timber sale revenues and public school funding in Oregon. The new research forest: 1) retains the forest in public ownership, 2) creates a 34,000-acre permanent reserve on the west side of the forest to benefit murrelets and other imperiled species, 3) protects nearly all of the remaining mature and old-growth forest left on the Elliott, and 4) meaningfully engages western Oregon tribes in its management.

The organizations were represented by attorneys for Cascadia Wildlands, the Center for Biological Diversity, attorney Daniel Kruse and the law offices of Charlie Tebbutt.

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Cascadia Wildlands defends and restores Cascadia’s wild ecosystems in the forests, in the courts, and in the streets. Cascadia Wildlands has over 12,000 members and supporters.
 
The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.1 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
 
Audubon Society of Portland was founded in 1902 to promote the understanding, enjoyment and protection of native birds, other wildlife and their habitats. Today it represents over 16,000 members in Oregon.

The post Press Release: Court Halts Logging of Elliott State Forest Tract Sold to Private Timber Company first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Contacts:
Nick Cady, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 434-1463
Meriel Darzen, Crag Law Center
George Sexton, KS Wild
Doug Heiken, Oregon Wild

Conservation Lawsuit Convinces BLM to Pull Controversial Timber Sale

Medford, Oregon — The Medford District Bureau of Land Management (BLM) “Lost Antelope” timber sale would have:

• Removed fire-resilient old-growth trees located in the “Wildland Urban Interface” and increased wildfire hazard to nearby ranches, farms and communities.
• Conducted “regeneration” and “gap creation” logging activities that resemble clearcutting.
• Resulted in the establishment of dense young even-age timber plantations that tend to burn at stand-replacing intensity.

In late 2021 conservation organizations KS Wild, Oregon Wild, Cascadia Wildlands and the Soda Mountain Wilderness Council filed a legal challenge to the Medford BLM’s “Lost Antelope” old-growth timber sale located in the Little Butte Creek Watershed near Medford Oregon. In response to that lawsuit, and ostensibly to “consider new information, conduct additional analysis, and solicit further input,” on March 10, 2022, BLM withdrew the unlawful timber sale decision record. The conservation organizations were represented by the Crag Law Center in the challenge to the decision.

“BLM’s decision to withdraw the project provides the agency an opportunity to work with local communities and stakeholders to change course on this project and work toward common goals, including reducing fire risk and protecting old trees.” stated Meriel Darzen, Staff Attorney for the Crag Law Center.

The Lost Antelope timber sale would have increased fire hazard and fire-fighting complexity through removal of comparatively fire-resilient large diameter trees with a large distance between the tree canopy and the ground and the subsequent planting of a dense second-growth timber plantation with decreased resiliency to fire.

“As a Rogue Valley resident who had to evacuate while the 2020 Almeda fire burned down hundreds of homes and business, I am disappointed that the BLM continues propose ‘regeneration’ logging that will increase fire hazard near residences,” said George Sexton, Conservation Director for KS Wild. “Forest and community resiliency are undermined by the BLM’s ‘regeneration’ logging agenda.” he continued.

“It shouldn’t take a federal lawsuit to get the BLM to listen to community concerns about forest removal and fire hazard,” stated Nick Cady the Legal Director for Cascadia Wildlands. “The BLM needs to get over its obsession with regeneration and gap-creation logging techniques and start thinning the timber plantations they’ve already created,” he concluded.

“The BLM’s plan to remove big, old trees and replace them with a small flammable timber crop is exactly the wrong approach,” noted Doug Heiken of Oregon Wild. “Real restoration means retaining mature forests for carbon sequestration,” he added.

Copies of the legal complaint and photos of the timber sale units are available upon request.

The post Press Release: Legal Victory Saves Threatened Old-growth Forest in Southern Oregon first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

CONTACTS:
Bethany Cotton, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 434-1463
Kelly Nokes, Western Environmental Law Center
Lindsay Larris, WildEarth Guardians

Judge restores gray wolf protections, reviving federal recovery efforts

Wolves in Northern Rockies still face brutal slaughter

OAKLAND, CA — Today, a federal court restored Endangered Species Act protections for the gray wolf after they were eliminated by the Trump administration in 2020. The ruling orders the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to resume recovery efforts for the imperiled species. Today’s decision redesignates the gray wolf as a species threatened with extinction in the lower 48 states with the exception of the Northern Rockies population (map), for which wolf protections were removed by Congress in 2011.
 
The most recent data from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its state partners show only an estimated 132 wolves in Washington state, 173 in Oregon (with only 19 outside of northeastern Oregon), and fewer than about 20 in California. Nevada, Utah, and Colorado have had a few wolf sightings over the past three years, but wolves remain functionally absent from their historical habitat in these states. In 2020, Colorado voters directed the state to reintroduce wolves by 2023.
 
“The science is clear that gray wolves have not yet recovered in the western U.S. By design, the Endangered Species Act does not provide the federal government the discretion to forsake western wolf recovery in some regions due to progress in other parts of the country,” said Kelly Nokes, Western Environmental Law Center attorney. “Today’s decision will bolster recovery of western wolves – a keystone species wherever they exist – and improve ecosystem health more broadly.”
 
From the decision: “…the Service did not adequately consider threats to wolves outside of these core populations. Instead, the Service avoids analyzing these wolves by concluding, with little explanation or analysis, that wolves outside of the core populations are not necessary to the recovery of the species… In so concluding, the Service avoided assessing the impact of delisting on these wolves.” Opinion at 11.
 
In delisting wolves, the Service ignored the science showing they are not recovered in the West. The Service concluded that because in its belief there are sufficient wolves in the Great Lakes states, it did not matter that wolves in the western U.S. are not yet recovered. The Endangered Species Act demands more, including restoring the species in the ample suitable habitats afforded by the wild public lands throughout the western U.S. Wolves are listed as endangered under state laws in Washington and California, and only occupy a small portion of available, suitable habitat in Oregon.
 
“This ruling is a huge win for wolves in states like California, Oregon, and Utah where they have yet to achieve stable, robust populations,” said Erik Molvar, a wildlife biologist and executive director with Western Watersheds Project. “We are relieved to have staved off premature delisting with this case, but there is still a huge amount of work ahead to protect wolves in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming where they face some of their biggest threats.”
 
“The nation has witnessed the brutality that happens when ‘management’ of wolves is returned to anti-wolf states like Montana and Idaho, which have implemented an aggressive eradication agenda, including surrounding Yellowstone National Park,” said Lindsay Larris, Wildlife Program director at WildEarth Guardians. “Restoring federal Endangered Species Act protections for wolves is essential to their recovery throughout their historic range, so while we are thankful for this ruling we also call on Secretary Deb Haaland to issue emergency relisting protections for the Northern Rockies wolf population to halt the senseless slaughter taking place.”

The conservation groups have long been active on wolf recovery issues in the western U.S., including working with western states to develop science-based wolf management plans, mounting cases to rein in rogue federal government wolf-killing programs, promoting recovery efforts in the Southwest for critically imperiled Mexican gray wolves, and working with local governments and landowners to deploy non-lethal tools that prevent wolf-livestock conflicts.

“Over the past two winters, we lost icons of wolf recovery when OR-7 and his mate OR-94 passed away in southern Oregon’s Cascades. These two wolves represent the first generation of wolves in western Oregon in nearly a century,” said Michael Dotson with the conservation group Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center based in southwest Oregon. “Delisting is premature and obviously politically driven.”
 
“Wolves are an integral part in the health and resilience of western ecosystems,” said Adam Gebauer, Public Lands Program director at The Lands Council. “Local land managers, state wildlife offices and the federal government must work together and rely on science and not politics to ensure their recovery. Wolves are our allies in the conservation of wildlands.”
 
“Today’s victory injects hope and resources into ongoing efforts to restore wolves across their historic range,” said Bethany Cotton, conservation director for Cascadia Wildlands. “We look forward to engaging with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to ensure wolf management is guided by sound science, not prejudice.”
 
“The politically driven delisting of wolves in the Northern Rockies by Congress incorrectly included all of eastern Washington, east of US Highway 97. It was an arbitrary decision then and it still is today,” said Timothy Coleman, director of Kettle Range Conservation Group and former member of the Washington state Wolf Advisory Group.  “Eighty-five percent of wolves killed in Washington were from the Kettle River Range, where unfortunately the gray wolf is still at risk despite the court’s excellent decision. And though Washington has kept state endangered species protections for wolves, that clearly provides little protection. Had wolves retained federal Endangered Species Act protection, entire wolf families would not have been slaughtered and could have dispersed into unoccupied areas of the state with excellent habitat such as southwest Washington, Mount Rainier and Olympic National Park.”
 
“California’s wolves are just starting to return home,” said Tom Wheeler, executive director at the Environmental Protection Information Center. “Today’s decision means these animals will have the help of federal wildlife managers to establish a true foothold in their historic habitat in the state.”
 
“We must learn to coexist with gray wolves. These highly intelligent and social animals play a key role in balancing entire ecosystems,” said Kimberly Baker of the Klamath Forest Alliance. “Federal protection is paramount to safeguarding this nation’s rightful heritage.”Unfortunately, today’s decision will do nothing to stop the ongoing slaughter of wolves in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming—including surrounding Yellowstone National Park and Glacier National Park. These states removed wolves’ endangered species protections via federal legislation. The current war on wolves in the northern Rockies shows the stark reality of what happens when “management” is turned over to states hostile to wolves. In just the past few months, at least 23 Yellowstone wolves—more than 20% of the park’s entire wolf population—have been killed outside the park, causing widespread outrage and condemnation from Yellowstone National Park’s supervisor, wolf researchers, and wildlife professionals. Hunters in Montana and Idaho can lure wolves out of Yellowstone with bait, strangle them with snares, and shoot them at night on private land.
 
Both states have established wolf bounties and in Idaho it’s legal to run down a wolf with ATVs and snowmobiles. While celebrating today’s positive ruling for wolves, the groups also call on the Biden administration to immediately issue emergency relisting protections for the Northern Rockies population of the gray wolf under the Endangered Species Act.  

The coalition of western wildlife advocates involved in this legal challenge includes WildEarth Guardians, Western Watersheds Project, Cascadia Wildlands, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), The Lands Council, Wildlands Network, Klamath Forest Alliance, and Kettle Range Conservation Group, represented by the Western Environmental Law Center.

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The post Press Release: VICTORY! Wolves’ Endangered Species Status Restored first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Contacts:
Nick Cady, Cascadia Wildlands, nick@cascwild.org, (541) 434-1463
Meriel Darzen, Crag Law Center, meriel@crag.org
Doug Heiken, Oregon Wild, dh@oregonwild.org

Judge Halts Post-Fire Logging near Breitenbush

Forest Service Unlawfully Changed Logging Contracts Following 2020 Wildfires

Eugene, OR — Today, a federal judge enjoined post-fire logging on the Willamette National Forest near Detroit Lake and Breitenbush hot springs. The Forest Service was converting previously approved restorative thinning projects into post-fire clearcuts without any public notice or environmental review, despite the significant new information and conditions created by the fires.

IMAGES FOR MEDIA USE

“Oregon’s response to these fires needs to include the public, be forward-looking, and designed to protect and restore our treasured forested areas, instead of knee-jerk efforts to generate as much timber volume as possible,” said Nick Cady of Cascadia Wildlands. “It is heartening to hear the Court explicitly recognize and emphasize this approach.”

Conservation groups Cascadia Wildlands and Oregon Wild learned the Forest Service had changed the terms of timber sales pre-dating the fires in late spring 2021 because members of the organizations discovered clearcutting in areas that were supposed to be restoration thinning projects. The organizations had participated in the public process shaping these prior projects, but were not informed about the agency’s dramatic shift. Documents obtained via the Freedom of Information Act revealed that the contract changes were not limited to the areas in the lower McKenzie River watershed adjacent to highway 19 near Cougar Reservoir, but in fact were occurring across the Willamette National Forest, including in areas near the beloved Breitenbush hot springs. The National Environmental Policy Act requires federal agencies to consider significant new information, such as large forest fires and the risks and tradeoffs associated with logging in these sensitive post-fire areas.

“Both the catastrophic 2020 fires and the Forest Service’s decision to implement ‘salvage’ where it was originally going to do selective thinning and burning were significant changes that required new analysis and public involvement,” said Meriel Darzen of the Crag Law Center, one of the attorneys for the conservation groups. “Cascadia and Oregon Wild were heavily invested in these projects and are deeply concerned about the recovery of these areas after the fires; the Forest Service’s backroom decision to log these sensitive recently burned areas with no analysis is harmful to the forest and the communities that are still recovering from the fires.”

Though some of the areas subject to the contract changes were already logged, today’s injunction precludes the Forest Service from moving forward with those that have yet to be cut pending the outcome of the lawsuit. In November, a federal judge enjoined much of the Forest Service’s plans to log along little used forest roads within the 2020 fire perimeter, also for failure to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act. These actions highlight a pattern of the Willamette National Forest failing to comply with federal environmental laws designed to ensure the public is included in decision-making on public lands and that agency decisions follow the best available science.   

“Oregon Wild brought this case to defend the simple proposition that when a wildfire burns through an ongoing timber sale, the Forest Service needs to pump the brakes and involve the public in deciding how to move forward,” said Doug Heiken of Oregon Wild. “That’s not just the law, but also the best way to protect our forests, drinking water, wildlife, carbon, and scenic values.”

Logging in recently burned areas does significant environmental harm: introducing invasive species, disturbing sensitive soils, increasing the likelihood of landslides and disturbing wildlife and plant species that coevolved with and depend on wildfires. It can also increase future fire risks and hazards.

Federal Judge Ann Aiken ruled from the bench during today’s hearing, granting conservation organizations’ request for an injunction.  A written ruling is forthcoming. The organization are represented by attorneys at the Crag Law Center and Cascadia Wildlands.

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The post Press Release: Post-fire Logging Halted on the Willamette National Forest 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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The post VICTORY! Court Halts Roadside Post-fire Logging Project 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.