*We never share or sell your information.
Press Release: Conservation Groups Challenge BLM’s “Big League” Logging Project Due to Impacts on Imperiled Spring Chinook Salmon Habitat and Other Values
November 7, 2023 — Today, conservation organizations Willamette Riverkeeper, Cascadia Wildlands, and Oregon Wild filed suit against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), challenging the agency’s authorization of the approximately 4,600-acre Big League Project in the Calapooia and Mohawk River Watersheds northeast of Eugene. According to the groups’ complaint, the BLM violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by failing to take the required “hard look” at the impacts that the Big League Project would have on a host of environmental values, including spotted owl habitat, carbon storage, stream flows, and water quality. Specifically, this project plans to clearcut the last and best older forest stands in the Calapooia and Mohawk River Watersheds.
BLOG: Field Checking for the First Time
— written by WildCAT, Emma E. Saturday, October 21st was marked in bold on my calendar, as it was my first time meeting up with other WildCAT volunteers to conduct a field check in the Calloway timber sale. I walked through the fog early in the morning to meet-up with two other volunteers, Becky and … Continue reading BLOG: Field Checking for the First Time
Press Release: Federal Agencies Release Joint Report on Mature and Old-Growth Forests
April 20, 2023 — On April 20, 2023, the two federal agencies charged with overseeing federally-managed public forests in the US released a much-anticipated report defining, identifying, and producing an initial inventory of mature and old-growth forests. The Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) inventory, which will continue to expand, identified more than 32 million acres of old-growth and around 80 million acres of mature forest across 200 types of forests.
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.
Press Release: Legal Action Taken to Halt Thurston Hills Logging in Springfield, OR
August 17, 2020 — In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) rejected administrative protests and decided to move forward with the Thurston Hills timber sale despite widespread opposition to the project. Last year on September 19th 2019, Oregon’s federal District Court rejected the Thurston Hills timber sale due to BLM’s failure to disclose increased wildfire danger for nearby communities and residents, and the BLM’s failure to designate and protect trails in this newly designated recreation area. In response to the court order, BLM made no changes to the project and quickly reissued another decision, a response typical of the Trump administration which ignores the rule of law and attempts to circumvent environmental rules and public process.
FIELD REPORT / BLOG: Quartzville-Middle Santiam Old-Growth on the Chopping Block
Proposed Quartzville-Middle Santiam (QMS) Timber Sale Project: Field Check Trip, July 2020 by Chelsea Stewart-Fusek Cascadia Wildlands Legal Intern, Summer 2020 On a gorgeous day earlier this month, the Willamette Valley Broadband of Great Old Broads for Wilderness joined the Cascadia Wildlands field checking team to survey some of the units in the QMS timber … Continue reading FIELD REPORT / BLOG: Quartzville-Middle Santiam Old-Growth on the Chopping Block
Quartzville-Middle Santiam (QMS)
BACKGROUND The QMS project is located on USFS forestlands 20 miles northeast of Sweet Home in the Willamette National Forest off of Highway 20. The sale is massive, encompassing 89,000 acres spanning North from Highway 20 all the way up to Detroit lake, with units bordering on protected wilderness areas and in some of the most … Continue reading Quartzville-Middle Santiam (QMS)
Thurston Hills Timber Sale
Thurston Hills aka “Pedal Power” Timber Sale is next to Springfield, OR Neighborhood: The Thurston Hills or “Pedal Power” timber sale was proposed near a Springfield, Oregon neighborhood. We successfully blocked this terrible plan. Twice. The Thurston Hills timber sale would have resulted in extensive “regeneration harvest” (all but clearcutting) of 109-acres of middle-aged forest … Continue reading Thurston Hills Timber Sale