Press Release: Groups Challenge BLM Commercial Logging in Conservation Reserve

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 27, 2024

Medford Oregon —Today a coalition of conservation organizations again filed a legal complaint challenging the Medford District Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) efforts to aggressively log forest stands located outside of Gold Hill, Oregon. The Rogue Gold Forest Management Project (“Rogue Gold”) authorizes heavy commercial logging within Late Successional Reserves, areas expressly set aside for old forest conservation. The BLM is targeting mature and old-growth forests that are fire-resilient and provide important habitat for at-risk wildlife species. BLM admits that the purpose of the heavier logging prescriptions being authorized is the generation of commercial timber volume despite locating these logging activities within areas set aside for conservation, called Late Successional Reserves.

Press Release: Legal Victory Saves Threatened Old-growth Forest in Southern Oregon

March 11, 2022 — 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.

Suit Filed to Prevent Old-Growth Logging Near Rogue River

June 27, 2017 — Today a coalition of conservation organizations representing tens of thousands of Oregonians filed a lawsuit against the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) seeking to halt the “Lower Grave” old-growth timber sale located on the Grave Creek tributary to the Rogue River. This illegal logging project proposes to log fire-resilient old-growth forests currently serving as a critical refuge for the northern spotted owl, Coho salmon and red tree voles.

Press Release: Logging Industry Lawsuit Thrown out by Federal Appeals Court

June 12, 2015 — A logging industry lawsuit that sought to force the Bureau of Land Management to increase logging on public lands in southwest Oregon was thrown out today by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. The ruling vacates a 2013 decision that would have forced the Bureau of Land Management to sell timber even when those sales would have harmed salmon and had detrimental impacts on water quality and recreation.