FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 3, 2025

Contact:
Nick Cady, Legal Director, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 434-1463
Sangye Ince-Johannsen, Attorney, Western Environmental Law Center

Eugene, OR — In response to a challenge brought by Cascadia Wildlands and the Western Environmental Law Center, an Oregon federal district court on Monday held that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) violated the law in authorizing the N126 Late Successional Reserve Landscape Plan Project. The parties have 30 days to agree on a remedy. 

The project, one of the largest Oregon public land logging proposals in decades, was slated to occur primarily in late successional reserves—areas intended for habitat protection and development for federally protected species. In May 2022, Cascadia Wildlands challenged the BLM for failing to complete an environmental impact statement for the massive project. The agency failed to consider impacts to species listed under the Endangered Species Act, dismissed dozens of environmental issues from consideration, and failed entirely to consider cumulative impacts of associated contemporaneous, overlapping and adjacent projects in the area.

“This victory will allow us to bring this project back in line with public values, like protecting mature and old-growth forests in the reserves,” said Nick Cady, legal director at Cascadia Wildlands. “It is disappointing that it takes these lengthy court cases to force the agency to actually consider the effects of all this proposed logging aside from timber volume, but the BLM has shown no desire to compromise absent a federal court order.”

Following exhaustive public comments pointed out problems with the proposed logging, extensive field checking and on-the-ground verification, and years of litigation, the court ruled that the heavy logging and extensive road building and renovation associated with this project involved significant and largely unanalyzed impacts in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act. Specifically, “BLM failed to provide a reasonably thorough discussion of the significant aspects of the effect of new road construction, repair, and haul routes; sediment delivery; and cumulative impacts” of adjacent and overlapping projects.

“This is one of the largest federally approved logging project on public land in Oregon in decades, and as the court rightly found, many of the Bureau of Land Management’s ‘findings of no significant impact’ don’t hold up under scrutiny,” said Sangye Ince-Johannsen, attorney at the Western Environmental Law Center. “This is a hard-fought victory, and the final phase still ahead will be decisive as we work to ensure continued protection for the rare and threatened wildlife that call the N126 project area home.”

“This is not just a legal victory, but also a testament to the longstanding community opposition and organizing against the BLM’s reckless logging,” said Madeline Cowen, grassroots organizer at Cascadia Wildlands. “In the face of a full-on assault against our bedrock environmental policies by the Trump administration, it is an important reminder that when we fight back, we win.”

Cascadia Wildlands is represented by attorneys from Cascadia Wildlands and the Western Environmental Law Center in this matter.

Eugene-based Cascadia Wildlands defends and restores Cascadia’s wild ecosystems in the forests, in the courts, and in the streets. The organization envisions 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. www.cascwild.org

The Western Environmental Law Center uses the power of the law to foster thriving, resilient western lands, waters, wildlife, and communities in the face of a changing climate. As a public interest law firm, WELC does not charge clients and partners for services but relies instead on charitable gifts from individuals, families, and foundations to accomplish its mission. https://westernlaw.org/

The Court’s Opinion and Order can be found here.

Plaintiffs’ complaint can be found here.

The post Court: N126, One of the Largest Oregon Logging Projects in Decades, Needs More Detailed Study to Safeguard Environment, Imperiled Species first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Contact:
Nick Cady, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 434-1463
Doug Heiken, Oregon Wild

Federal Agency Plan Would Intensively Log Remaining Spotted Owl Reserves 

Eugene, OR — Late yesterday, Oregon-based conservation organizations Cascadia Wildlands and Oregon Wild challenged the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Siuslaw Field Office’s plan to log public lands west of Eugene across seven watersheds. The agency’s “N126 Late Successional Reserve Landscape Plan Project” is one of the largest logging proposals on public lands in Oregon in decades. The targeted forests are home to at least three federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) listed species: northern spotted owl, marbled murrelet, and Oregon Coast coho salmon, along with the red tree vole, which is currently a candidate for ESA listing. The agency failed entirely to consider impacts to these species, amongst other errors. 

Learn more about the N126 Project

“BLM has purposely hidden the specifics about this massive logging project from public review,” said John Mellgren, General Counsel at the Western Environmental Law Center. “Federal law demands the government fully disclose its plans and prepare a robust Environmental Impact Statement before proceeding with the logging contemplated by the BLM’s N126 project.” 

The agency’s proposed project authorizes commercial logging in areas that were designated as off-limits to commercial logging in the BLM’s governing 2016 management plan. 14,227 acres of Late-Successional Reserve (“LSR”) lands would be logged–nearly all of it commercially. The agency’s primary management objective for LSRs is to promote the development and maintenance of foraging habitat for the northern spotted owl, including creating and maintaining habitat to increase diversity and abundance of prey for the owl, regardless of whether owls are present.  

Additionally, over 2,000 acres of Riparian Reserves are slated for commercial logging. Akin to LSR purposes, Riparian Reserves’ primary management objectives are to contribute to the conservation and recovery of ESA-listed fish species and their habitats; maintain and restore natural channel dynamics, processes, and the proper functioning condition of riparian areas; and maintain water quality and streamflows to protect aquatic biodiversity and to provide quality water for recreation and drinking water sources.  

“Public trust in federal agencies is undermined when those agencies do not follow their own management plans developed via a public process,” said Nick Cady, Legal Director for Cascadia Wildlands. “The last remaining reserved areas should remain just that: protected for wildlife and fish from the commercial logging at the root of these iconic species’ decline.” 

The project also authorizes the addition of 50-90 miles of new roads to the already bloated public lands road network, and 300-420 miles of existing roads would be rebuilt or renovated. The plan is designed to generate 380 million board feet of lumber. 

“This project demonstrates that BLM’s narrow pursuit of timber makes them unable to see that logging harms many other public values we obtain from our public forests, such as clean water, fish and wildlife, recreation, and carbon storage,” said Doug Heiken, Conservation and Restoration Coordinator for Oregon Wild.  

The lawsuit alleges violations of the National Environmental Policy Act, including failure to take the requisite “hard look” and failure to conduct any site-specific analyses or prepare an Environmental Impact Statement, and that BLM’s failures to follow its own management plans violate the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. Cascadia Wildlands, Oregon Wild and hundreds of their members and supporters participated in the project development, submitting detailed public comments raising these concerns at every opportunity, but the agency failed to remedy the serious flaws in their decision, resulting in today’s lawsuit. 

The organizations are represented by attorneys from the Western Environmental Law Center and Cascadia Wildlands. 

Learn more about the N126 Project

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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 Western Environmental Law Center uses the power of the law to safeguard the public lands, wildlife, and communities of the western U.S. in the face of a changing climate. We envision a thriving, resilient western U.S., abundant with protected public lands and wildlife, powered by clean energy, and defended by communities rooted in an ethic of conservation. 

Oregon Wild works to protect and restore Oregon’s wildlands, wildlife, and waters as an enduring legacy for future generations.

The post Press Release: Conservationists Challenge Logging Plan first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.