Contact:
Grace Brahler, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 434-1463, grace@cascwild.org
Meg Townsend, Center for Biological Diversity, (971) 717-6409, mtownsend@biologicaldiversity.org
Casey Kulla, Oregon Wild, (971) 241-6585, ck@oregonwild.org
Michael Morrison, Pacific Rivers, (707) 845-2885, pdxspike11@gmail.com
Ryan Talbott, WildEarth Guardians, (503) 329-9162, rtalbott@wildearthguardians.org
Quinn Read, Portland Audubon, (206) 979-3074, qread@audubonportland.org
Damon Motz-Storey, Oregon Chapter of Sierra Club, (303) 913-5634, damon.motz-storey@sierraclub.org
Rob Kirschner, The Conservation Angler, (503) 894-0439, rob@theconservationangler.org
Mark Sherwood, Native Fish Society, (503) 344-4218, mark@nativefishsociety.org
Joseph Youren, Audubon Society of Lincoln City, (541) 921-9862, yourenjoseph@gmail.com

PORTLAND, Ore.— Eleven conservation groups today sent a letter calling on Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek and the Board of Forestry to protect additional acres of forest lands in the proposed Western Oregon State Forest Habitat Conservation Plan. Their proposed increase in protected mature and old-growth forest land would help safeguard imperiled species like the threatened Oregon Coast coho salmon and marbled murrelet.

Specifically, today’s letter seeks to protect forests older than 80 years in the Tillamook and Clatsop state forests and the Cook Creek watershed because of their ecological value for coastal communities and wildlife. The draft conservation plan is now in the process of being finalized by the Board of Forestry.

“Protecting more mature and old-growth coastal forests would benefit Oregon’s treasured wildlife and sustain coastal communities,” said Meg Townsend, senior freshwater attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “We need to protect Cook Creek to safeguard critical spawning habitat for Oregon Coast coho and make sure coastal residents have safe drinking water and recreational opportunities.”

Intact mature and old-growth forests provide important habitat corridors and refuges for wildlife including at-risk species like the marbled murrelet. They also help moderate flooding and runoff occurring more frequently in a changing climate while ensuring water quantity and quality to downstream communities. Older forests are the most resistant and resilient to climate change impacts like wildfire.

Across Oregon, only about 10% of mature and old-growth forests remain, and much less than that remains on the North Coast.

Clearcut logging and related activities like road building and aerial pesticide spraying increase sediment and other pollutants flowing into streams and drinking water sources. No-logging buffers around streams have increased under a settlement agreement with the Center for Biological Diversity and other groups. But communities remain concerned about the extent of clearcutting in their drinking watersheds and the short-term and cumulative harms of industrial logging.

This summer, Oregon Wild co-developed a project with NASA to map the extent of logging across watersheds on the North Coast. The analysis revealed that the forested areas many Oregon coastal communities rely on for safe and clean drinking water have been more than 50% clearcut over the past 20 years.

“Forested watersheds are critical for drinking water, as the recent NASA report detailed the extent of logging over the past 20 years,” said Casey Kulla, state forest policy coordinator for Oregon Wild. “With climate change bearing down on us, expanding habitat conservation areas to include the oldest trees will help ensure the continued survival of struggling species, and it will also protect critical sources of drinking water. Logging harms water for years after the clearcut greens up. It is time to act responsibly.”

“At Pacific Rivers, we know that any insult to a watershed will affect everything downstream,” said Mike Morrison, board chair of Pacific Rivers. “This proposed road building and logging is not only unnecessary (clear cuts are never necessary), but the damage that will be caused by road building is certain to impair the overall health of the Cook Creek watershed and its flora and fauna, not just the stream itself.”

“In the face of climate and biodiversity crises, older forests and precious watersheds like Cook Creek must be conserved as valuable climate refugia for imperiled species,” said Grace Brahler, wildlands director with Cascadia Wildlands. “Protecting older forests from logging and damaging road building is vital for the Department of Forestry to achieve the vision laid out in its Climate Change and Carbon Plan.”

“Oregon’s reputation as a leader on environmental issues may be accurate in some cases but when it comes to logging, it is still stuck in the last century,” said Ryan Talbott, Pacific Northwest conservation advocate for WildEarth Guardians. “Extensive, short-sighted clearcutting across the coast range has caused long-term damage to wildlife habitat and streams and rivers that are critical for threatened salmon. Protecting what little mature and old-growth forest remains should be a no-brainer.”

“A Habitat Conservation Plan is meant to balance fish and wildlife habitat and clean water with timber harvest,” said Damon Motz-Storey, chapter director of the Oregon Chapter Sierra Club. “Reopening Cook Creek road to allow logging in the vital Cook Creek watershed would be a grave mistake that would undoubtedly upset any balance the Habitat Conservation Plan achieves.”

The post Press Release: Letter Calls on Gov. Kotek to Protect Old-Growth Forests, Cook Creek Watershed first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Contacts:
Nick Cady, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 434-1463
Meg Townsend, Center for Biological Diversity

Agency to Reevaluate Harm to Coho, Murrelets

PORTLAND, Ore.— 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.

“It’s a major victory that FEMA has decided to revoke funding for this disastrous logging road, which should never have been built in the first place,” said Meg Townsend, senior freshwater attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “I’m delighted FEMA is taking its duty to protect threatened coho salmon and marbled murrelets seriously. Now we need the Oregon Department of Forestry to reconsider logging in Cook Creek and instead leave it for fish and fishing.”

In a letter sent late Monday, FEMA said it recognized the groups’ concerns and would consider the effects of the Forestry Department’s proposed timber sales, which could not occur if FEMA didn’t provide federal funding to rebuild the road.

In particular, the Forestry Department has two timber sales slated for 2024 that would involve clearcutting nearly 700 acres and constructing more than three miles of new logging roads on steep, landslide prone slopes in the Cook Creek watershed.

“We are relieved the government is going to reevaluate subsidizing Oregon’s attempts to log mature and old-growth forests,” said Nick Cady, legal director of Cascadia Wildlands. “Using disaster relief funds to facilitate logging that increases fire risks for Oregonians is ridiculous.”

Cook Creek Road has been closed since December 2015 when heavy rainfall washed out a section of the road into Cook Creek, halting all logging in the watershed.

The post Press Release: FEMA Pulls Oregon Logging Road Funding In Response to Lawsuit first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Contacts:
Nick Cady, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 434-1463
Meg Townsend, Center for Biological Diversity

Renewed Cook Creek Logging Will Harm Coho Salmon, Marbled Murrelets

PORTLAND, Ore.— The Center for Biological Diversity and Cascadia Wildlands sued the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today for authorizing federal disaster relief funding to rebuild Cook Creek Road, a logging road in Oregon’s Tillamook State Forest.

Cook Creek Road has been closed since December 2015 when heavy rainfall washed out a section of the road into Cook Creek, halting all logging in the watershed.

“Rebuilding this logging road will seriously harm coho salmon, marbled murrelets and water quality in ways FEMA downplayed and completely ignored,” said Meg Townsend, senior freshwater attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “If FEMA is going to hand out federal disaster relief money to clearcut Oregon’s public lands, it must consider the harms from those activities. Cook Creek provides excellent clean water in the beautiful Coast Range for imperiled species and Oregonians alike.”

Today’s lawsuit says FEMA failed to consider harms to Oregon Coast coho salmon and marbled murrelets before authorizing funding to the Oregon Department of Forestry to rebuild the road. Coho salmon and marbled murrelets are protected as threatened species under the Endangered Species Act and live in the Cook Creek watershed. Federal agencies, including FEMA, are required to ensure that the actions and projects they fund do not jeopardize threatened species.

FEMA also ignored the harms from logging planned by the Department of Forestry, which has two timber sales slated for 2024 that would only be possible if the road is rebuilt. The sales involve clearcutting nearly 700 acres and constructing more than three miles of new logging roads on steep, landslide prone slopes in the Cook Creek watershed.

“FEMA should not be subsidizing commercial timber operations with disaster relief funds, and particularly not where it will harm threatened species and their habitat,” said Nick Cady, legal director of Cascadia Wildlands. “FEMA and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must protect marbled murrelets and coho salmon from further harm to Oregon’s coastal forests.”

The complaint notes that road construction could begin as early as August 6, 2023.

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Cascadia Wildlands defends and restores Cascadia’s wild ecosystems in the forests, in the courts, and in the streets. We envision vast old-growth forests, rivers full of salmon, wolves howling in the backcountry, and vibrant communities sustained by the unique landscapes of the Cascadia bioregion.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.7 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

The post Press Release: Lawsuit Challenges FEMA-Funded Logging Road in Oregon’s Coast Range first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Contacts:
Nick Cady, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 434-1463
Meg Townsend, Center for Biological Diversity

Renewed Cook Creek Logging Will Harm Coho Salmon, Marbled Murrelets

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Center for Biological Diversity and Cascadia Wildlands filed a notice of intent today to sue the Federal Emergency Management Agency for funding the reopening of Cook Creek Road in the Oregon Coast Range.

Reopening the road will allow renewed logging and harm Oregon Coast coho and marbled murrelets, both of which are protected as threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.

“If FEMA is going to pay to rebuild a logging road, it has to consider how logging will hurt the species that live there, plain and simple,” said Meg Townsend, senior freshwater attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Cook Creek provides excellent habitat for coho salmon and marbled murrelets, not to mention clean water and a place of solace for all Oregonians.”

The road has been closed since a portion washed out during storms in December 2015. Cook Creek is relatively intact and borders areas proposed for protection by the Oregon Department of Forestry. It’s also a prized fishing stream. Last year, fishing groups joined other conservation groups in opposing logging in the Cook Creek watershed, which is designated as critical habitat for Oregon Coast coho.

Under the Endangered Species Act, federal agencies, including FEMA, are required to ensure that the actions and projects they fund do not jeopardize threatened species. FEMA wrongly concluded that reconstructing the road wouldn’t affect coho. In doing so the agency only considered the road itself and not the logging made possible by the road and planned by the Department of Forestry. This is a clear violation of the law.

“Oregon should not be using disaster relief funds to subsidize commercial timber operations, particularly not where it will harm threatened species and their habitat,” said Nick Cady, legal director of Cascadia Wildlands.

The Department of Forestry has two timber sales planned for 2024 in the Cook Creek watershed. The sales involve clearcutting nearly 700 acres and constructing more than 3 miles of new logging roads. These activities have the potential to seriously harm coho and murrelets.

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The post Press Release: Lawsuit Launched Against Road Reopening in Oregon’s Tillamook State Forest first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Press Contacts:
Josh Laughlin, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 434-1463
Amy Atwood, Center for Biological Diversity
Jennifer Fairbrother, Native Fish Society

PORTLAND, Ore.— 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.

The Center for Biological Diversity, Cascadia Wildlands and Native Fish Society brought the suit, which asserted that for years the Department had been harming threatened coho salmon — in violation of the Endangered Species Act — by hauling timber on roads hydraulically connected to streams and by logging steep slopes, which causes landslides. Both activities choke streams with fine sediments that smother coho spawning and rearing habitat and degrade water quality for people.

“For too long the timber industry has treated our state forests like cash cows, without enough protection for fish or water quality,” said Amy Atwood, senior counsel at the Center. “The protections provided by today’s agreement aren’t everything we want, but they’ll go a long way toward recovering coho salmon on Oregon’s North Coast.”

Under the agreement, no-cut stream buffers will be expanded from as little as 25 feet to 120 feet and will include many non-fish bearing and seasonal reaches that previously received little to no protection. The Department will also now buffer some upland sites where landslides start, as well as the seasonal stream channels that carry landslide debris into fish habitat, with devastating consequences.

“Logging the exceedingly steep slopes of the Tillamook and Clatsop state forests has real consequences for our beloved and iconic salmon,” said Jennifer Fairbrother, conservation director for the Native Fish Society. “While there is more to be done to improve the management of our state forests, there’s no question that these new protections will help restore fish as well as soil health, water quality and even our climate.”

The agreement also requires the Department to inventory the extensive road network on the state forests within five years to identify problems and estimate the cost to fix them. Built almost entirely for the benefit of the timber industry, there are currently more than four miles of road per square mile of state forest. These include many areas where roads are blocking fish passage, unstable, or contributing sediments directly to streams. The cost of fixing these problems likely extends into the hundreds of millions of dollars and will almost certainly fall to the public to cover.  

“The current model of logging state forests to pay for essential county services and Department expenses and provide Big Timber a subsidized source of logs is archaic and unsustainable,” said Josh Laughlin, executive director of Cascadia Wildlands. “Besides not providing a stable source of county funding, the model utterly fails to protect salmon and wildlife, water quality, soil health or our climate. It is past time Oregon leaders sever the tie between clearcutting state forests and county funding and devise a more contemporary strategy to pay for critical services.”

The protections in the agreement are also proposed as part of a “habitat conservation plan.” Under the Endangered Species Act this would allow the Department to cause some harm to coho salmon, as well as marbled murrelets, spotted owls and other imperiled species, in exchange for protecting portions of the state forests from logging and roads. The Department first developed a conservation plan in 1997 but has continuously failed to finalize one. The current plan is expected to be completed this year but is facing stiff opposition from the timber industry and some county officials.

The Center for Biological Diversity, Cascadia Wildlands, and Native Fish Society were represented by Center attorney Amy Atwood and Oliver Stiefel and Maura Fahey of Crag Law Center.

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The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.7 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

Cascadia Wildlands defends and restores 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 Native Fish Society is a nonprofit conservation organization with a mission to restore abundant wild fish, free-flowing rivers, and thriving local communities across Oregon and the Pacific Northwest.

The post Press Release: Legal Agreement Will Bring New Protections From Logging to Oregon Coast Coho Salmon first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Contacts:
Nick Cady, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 434-1463
Erin Hogan, Crag Law Center

Federal Agency Plan Would Intensively Log Remaining Spotted Owl Reserves

Eugene, OR — Today, Oregon-based conservation organizations Cascadia Wildlands and Oregon Wild challenged the Bureau of Land Management’s (“BLM”) Siuslaw Field Office’s plan to log 13,225 acres of public forests in the coast range foothills west of Eugene. The agency’s Siuslaw HLB (“Harvest Land Base”) Project will clearcut these mature and old-growth forests that border many communities and residences west of Eugene. The BLM admits that this logging will increase fire hazard risks, slope instability and landslide risks, and drinking water contamination for these communities, but dismissed concerns raised about these impacts as insignificant.

“The BLM cannot continue to chase timber volume production at the expense of our communities,” said Nick Cady with Cascadia Wildlands. “Not only are we losing the few older forest stands that remain in the coast range, but admittedly the agency is putting us at increased risk from forest fires and landslides, and jeopardizing water quality. The little timber volume being generated from these mature, public forests is just not worth it.”

The targeted forests are home to at least four federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) listed species: northern spotted owl, marbled murrelet, and Chinook and Oregon Coast coho salmon, along with listing candidate species the red tree vole, which is a candidate for ESA listing. Most of the forests slated for logging are mature and old-growth forests that provide suitable habitat for these species, but the agency dismissed impacts to these imperiled species as insignificant without any actual review of the impacts the logging would have on the ground. 

Many of the local residents strongly oppose the logging, as they believe its negative impacts–including drinking water contamination, increased wildfire hazard, loss of recreation opportunities, soil erosion, further road construction, and outright habitat destruction–strongly outweigh any benefits associated with timber production.

“If they remain standing, our public forests provide so many important public services, including clean water, habitat for fish & wildlife, climate stability, fire resilience, recreation and quality of life. Clearcut logging will sacrifice all these values, and for what? The private profits of a few in the timber industry. BLM has a responsibility to tell the truth but they are hiding the fact that the public is getting a rotten deal here,”  said Doug Heiken of Oregon Wild.

The lawsuit alleges violations of the National Environmental Policy Act, including failure to take the requisite “hard look” at environmental impacts and failure to conduct any site-specific analyses or prepare an Environmental Impact Statement. The BLM is required under federal environmental law to consider the negative impacts the proposed logging will have on our communities and weigh those impacts against the alleged benefits of timber volume generation logging. Many of the local residents strongly oppose the logging, which they believe will create that the negative impacts–including contamination of to their drinking water, increases in fire hazard, loss of recreation opportunities, soil erosion and stability, further road construction, and outright habitat destruction–that which elimination strongly outweighs any benefits associated with timber production.  

“The BLM is attempting to evade its legal obligation to consider and publicly disclose the impact these clearcuts will have on sensitive wildlife species, forest health, carbon storage and climate change, water quality, and wildfire hazard,” said attorney Erin Hogan. “The agencies tasked with managing our public lands must be accountable to the public they serve.”

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

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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.  

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.

Crag Law Center is a nonprofit environmental law center based in Portland, Oregon that supports community efforts to protect and sustain the Pacific Northwest’s natural legacy. Implementing a unique model of legal aid for the environment, Crag balances the scales of justice by offering free and low-cost legal services to people who are working on the ground to protect our environment, climate and communities.

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

Contact:
Noah Greenwald, Center for Biological Diversity, (503) 484-7495, ngreenwald@biologicaldiversity.org
Glen Spain, PCFFA and IFR, (541) 689-2000, fish1ifr@aol.com
Mark Sherwood, Native Fish Society, (303) 898-8988, mark@nativefishsociety.org
Nick Cady, Cascadia Wildlands, (314) 482-3746, nick@old.cascwild.org

SALEM, Ore.— Five fishing and conservation groups sued the Oregon Department of Forestry today for poor logging and road-use practices in the Tillamook and Clatsop state forests that harm threatened coho salmon through landslides and erosion into streams that violates the Endangered Species Act.

Today’s lawsuit was filed in Eugene by the Center for Biological Diversity, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, Institute for Fisheries Resources, Cascadia Wildlands and Native Fish Society.

“Logging by the Oregon Department of Forestry is one of the main reasons our coastal coho are in trouble,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The department needs to do more to ensure it doesn’t harm these beautiful and important fish.”

Forestry department officials developed a draft Habitat Conservation Plan in the late 1990s that would have granted them a permit to allow some harm to threatened and endangered species — including the coho, marbled murrelet and spotted owl — but only in exchange for long-term habitat protections.

The department, however, never finalized the plan. Forestry officials did not want to enact stream protections that National Marine Fisheries Service scientists determined were necessary to ensure the coho’s survival. The forestry department is again looking at developing a plan, but has made no firm commitment to do so.

“Poor logging practices by the Oregon Department of Forestry is causing real harm to Oregon Coast coho and commercial fishing families who depend on these magnificent fish for their livelihoods,” said Glen Spain, northwest regional director for both the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations and the Institute of Fisheries Resources. “Stronger protections for streams to protect the coho, clean water and fishing-dependent jobs and communities is decades overdue.”

The two state forests contain nearly 500,000 acres on the Oregon North Coast essential to the survival of Oregon Coast coho. The lack of adequate stream protections on these lands was a primary basis for the National Marine Fisheries Service’s decision to protect the fish under the Endangered Species Act. That agency determined in a 2011 status review that “we are unable to conclude that the state forest management plans will provide for OC coho salmon habitat that is capable of supporting populations that are viable during both good and poor marine conditions.”

“The Oregon Department of Forestry is taking such a shortsighted approach to the Tillamook and Clatsop state forests,” said Nick Cady, legal director at Cascadia Wildlands. “These older, coastal rainforests are critical to the future of coho salmon, and there are better uses for these forests than the short-term profit to be gained from clearcutting.”

The Center for Biological Diversity filed a similar notice in 2014. But the Center delayed litigation because state forestry department officials said they were working with the conservation community and the timber industry to develop a new management plan that would potentially avoid harms to salmon and streams. Four years later no such plan has materialized.

“Oregon Coast coho aren’t just fish. They’re an indicator for the health of our coastal communities, rivers and forests,” said Mark Sherwood, executive director of the Native Fish Society. “In recent years, thanks to so much good on-the-ground work, these remarkable fish have gone from the brink of extinction to a pathway toward recovery. Now it’s time to recover our coho to real abundance so they can once again enrich our communities and our land. It’s time for Oregonians to embrace our role as stewards and reform our logging practices.”

The groups are represented by Amy Atwood of the Center and Crag Law Center.

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The post Press Release: Fishing, Conservation Groups Sue to Protect Coho Salmon from Oregon State Forest Logging first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.