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.

###

The post VICTORY! Court Halts Roadside Post-fire Logging Project first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Contacts:
Bethany Cotton, Conservation Director, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 434-1463
Tim Ingalsbee, Executive Director, Firefighters United for Safety Ethics and Ecology (FUSEE)

Conservationists Call on Biden Admin to Rein in Destructive Post-Fire Roadside Logging

Widespread Post-Fire Clearcutting Threatens Drinking Water, Climate Resilience, Wildlife

Eugene, Oregon — Today, over twenty conservation and climate justice organizations sent a letter to Cabinet Secretaries Deb Haaland of the Department of the Interior and Tom Vilsack of the Department of Agriculture opposing the sweeping post-fire roadside logging proposed or actively being carried out by their respective agencies. The organizations are calling for an end to the blanket prescription linear clearcuts within the perimeters of the 2020 Labor Day wildfires, and a halt to the use of Categorical Exclusions (CE) by federal land management agencies to bypass environmental review and public participation. These clearcuts are up to 200 feet wide on both sides of roadways, adding up to tens of thousands of acres of clearcuts in addition to the hundreds of thousands of acres of private land clearcuts and proposed public lands post-fire logging.

The letter comes as tens of thousands of acres of “hazard” tree removal road and riverside logging are proposed and taking place along federal public forest roads across the State of Oregon. In the past six months, hundreds of thousands of acres of private timberland were already clearcut.

“The roadside clearcutting of burned forests is an insult to the safety risks, health hazards, and hard work that wildland firefighters subjected themselves to save those trees,” said Timothy Ingalsbee, executive director of Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology (FUSEE). “Worse, the logging will greatly amplify the fire risks and fuel hazards affecting future firefighters if and when they are sent to the weedy brushfields that grow up in the wake of clearcutting.”

Community members and environmental organizations are raising concerns about the serious ecological impact that heavy logging has on post-fire forests and watersheds. Research shows that post-fire logging damages the local environment and delays forest recovery, while releasing large amounts of carbon — further exacerbating the global climate crisis. Agencies permit the logging under the scientifically unsound theory of “salvage,” implying burned forests must be clearcut to save value. In truth, burned forests provide habitat for myriad fire-dependent wildlife and plant species, sequester carbon, and naturally recover if only left to do so.

“Far from improving public safety, the unprecedented scale of road and riverside logging is further endangering imperiled species, undermining climate resilience, and jeopardizing drinking water sources for hundreds of thousands of Oregonians,” said Bethany Cotton, conservation director for Cascadia Wildlands. “Federal agencies are attempting to circumvent scientific analysis and public process, by claiming these impacts are minimal when nothing could be further from the truth.”

The organizations are also calling on the Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture to promulgate clear, science-based post-fire hazard tree removal and remediation regulations applicable across federal agencies via notice and comment public rulemaking to ensure transparency, clarity and consistency.

The signatory organizations are: Cascadia Wildlands, Center for Biological Diversity, Western Environmental Law Center, Firefighters United for Safety Ethics and Ecology, Breach Collective, Kalmiopsis Audubon Society, Forest Web, Soda Mountain Wilderness Council, 350PDX, Redwood Region Audubon Society, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, John Muir Project, Sunrise PDX, Sunrise Eugene, Bark, Western Watersheds Project, Blue Mountain Biodiversity Project, South Umpqua Rural Community Partnership, Oregon Wild, Environmental Protection Information Center, WildEarth Guardians.

###

Background and Resources:
Read more about the impacts of post-fire roadside logging here and here. Find photos of ongoing post-fire roadside logging here.

Post-fire logging typically removes most of the remaining trees and involves intense road building and maintenance, the planting of non-native species and the application of toxic herbicides. The combined impacts of these actions disrupt forest health, degrade habitat, harm forested watersheds, and impact aquatic ecosystems by driving erosion and removing potential habitat in the form of woody debris (Karr et al. 2004, Donato et al. 2006, Reeves et al. 2006).

Logging emits far more carbon than even severe wildfire (Law et al. 2018). While fire-killed trees may take several decades or even centuries to decompose, during the logging and milling process, most of the carbon is rapidly released into the atmosphere (Smith et al. 2006, Gower et al. 2006). Post-fire logging undercuts the natural sequestration and storage capacity of post-fire forests and contributes to carbon emissions that worsen climate change.

In congressional testimony to the House Subcommittee on Resources (November 10, 2005, hearing on HR4200), University of Washington Professor Jerry Franklin said “Timber salvage is most appropriately viewed as a ‘tax’ on ecological recovery.”

Cascadia Wildlands is a Eugene-based nonprofit working to defend and restore Cascadia’s wild ecosystems in the forests, in the courts, and in the streets.

Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology (FUSEE) conducts public education and policy advocacy promoting safe, ethical, ecological fire management

The post A Call on Secretaries Haaland and Vilsack to Rein in Reckless Post-Fire Roadside Logging in Oregon first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.