July 18, 2023 — In response to a lawsuit Monday by the Center for Biological Diversity and Cascadia Wildlands, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has pulled its authorization of federal disaster relief funding to rebuild Cook Creek Road. The road would have been used for logging in Oregon’s Tillamook State Forest.
Press Release: Legal Agreement Will Bring New Protections From Logging to Oregon Coast Coho Salmon
March 23, 2023 — Resolving multiyear litigation over the harms of logging to coho salmon, conservation groups reached an agreement today with the Oregon Department of Forestry to greatly expand stream buffers across more than half a million acres of the Tillamook and Clatsop state forests.
Press Release: Oregon Department of Forestry Moves Flawed Endangered Species Plan Forward
March 17, 2022 — The Oregon Department of Forestry and the National Marine Fisheries Service issued a draft environmental impact statement today for a habitat conservation plan that regulates logging on more than 600,000 acres of state forest in western Oregon.
The plan would allow the department to continue to log and harm endangered species, including coho and Chinook salmon, northern spotted owls, marbled murrelets and others, for 70 years in exchange for some habitat protection.
Lawsuit Filed Challenging Ongoing Post-Fire Clearcutting in Santiam State Forest East of Salem
April 14, 2021 — Today conservation groups including Cascadia Wildlands, the Center for Biological Diversity, Willamette Riverkeeper, Audubon Society of Corvallis, Audubon Society of Salem, Oregon Wild, and the Benton Forest Coalition filed suit challenging the ongoing post-fire clearcutting in the Santiam State forest east of Salem. Closed to visitors since 2020’s Labor Day wildfires, the state forest is currently being extensively logged by the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF).
Salem Debacle Kicks Off a Very Consequential Year
A Recap of What Went Down This Legislative Session by Alexander Harris, Forest Policy Consultant for Cascadia Wildlands Last week, the Oregon Legislature ended its short session early, lacking the requisite number of legislators to pass any of the bills being considered. Two weeks prior, Republican members of the State House and Senate fled the … Continue reading Salem Debacle Kicks Off a Very Consequential Year
“Let the Big Trees Alone. Let Them Grow”
A Report on the Board of Forestry Meeting, 25 April 2018 By Will Watson, WildCAT Volunteer. Last month, Cascadia Wildland’s staff attorney, Gabe Scott, and volunteers John Selove and I travelled up to Salem to a meeting of the Oregon State Board of Forestry. The BOF is the executive board of the Oregon Department of … Continue reading “Let the Big Trees Alone. Let Them Grow”
Greater Protections Sought for Marbled Murrelets in Oregon
June 21, 2016 — Conservation groups submitted petitions today asking the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) and the Oregon Board of Forestry to take new measures to better identify and protect important forest areas for protected marbled murrelets. The petition to ODFW requests that the agency “uplist” the marbled murrelet to “endangered” status under the Oregon Endangered Species Act (OESA). The petition to the Board of Forestry asks the agency to identify and protect important forest sites critical to the species’ survival.