Contact:    
Nick Cady, Legal Director, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 434-1463          
Noah Greenwald, Center for Biological Diversity
Quinn Read, Bird Alliance of Oregon

Clearcutting plans halted to protect threatened seabird within former Elliott State Forest parcel

Eugene, OR — Today, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a 2022 ruling from the District Court of Oregon that prevents Scott Timber Co. from clearcutting old-growth forest within Oregon’s Elliott State Forest. The court held that the proposed logging of the 355-acre Benson Ridge parcel by the subsidiary of Roseburg Forest Products would harm threatened marbled murrelets in violation of the federal Endangered Species Act. The case marks the first time a private timber company has been held to account in court for potential violations of the federal Endangered Species Act in Oregon.

“After a decade of advocacy, the rare old-growth in Benson Ridge is at last protected from private industry chainsaws,” said Nick Cady, legal director at Cascadia Wildlands. “This ruling is significant for the imperiled marbled murrelet and will hopefully dissuade land managers from logging the little remaining coastal old-growth forest in the state.”

The 82,000-acre Elliott State Forest, located near Coos Bay, has been mired in controversy for over a decade. In 2012, following a decision by the state of Oregon to significantly increase logging levels on the Elliott, Cascadia Wildlands, the Center for Biological Diversity and Bird Alliance of Oregon (formerly Portland Audubon) sued the state for illegally logging occupied marbled murrelet habitat on the Elliott and other state forests. After a judge issued a legal injunction, the state settled the suit in 2014, agreeing to drop 26 timber sales and stop logging in occupied murrelet habitat.

Following the settlement, however, the state sold the Benson Ridge parcel and two other tracts, totaling 1,453 acres, even though they contained mature and old-growth forests that were occupied by imperiled marbled murrelets. Prior to the finalization of the sales, the timber purchasers were specifically warned by the three conservation organizations that logging these forests would violate the federal Endangered Species Act. The state finalized the sales regardless.

“I’m absolutely thrilled that the marbled murrelets of Benson Ridge are safe from logging,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “This court victory makes it clear that timber companies are no more exempt from ending the extinction crisis that plagues these enduring seabirds than the rest of us.”

The Benson Ridge case was originally filed in August 2016 claiming violations of the federal Endangered Species Act, which strictly prohibits “take” (statutorily defined as including harm, harassment or killing) of threatened species like the marbled murrelet. Unlike any other seabird, murrelets nest on the wide, mossy branches of large, old-growth trees, making a daily trip of up to 35 miles inland to bring fish to their young.

“This entire Elliott State Forest saga demonstrates the incredible cynicism that underpins the treatment of mature and old-growth forests in Oregon,” said Bird Alliance of Oregon conservation director, Quinn Read. “Land managers, both public and private, continue to try to convert these rare old forests into timber plantations. This is not only ecologically devastating but illegal.”

The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court holding stating: “…the Benson Tract is occupied and used for nesting by marbled murrelets, the logging operation would eliminate 49 acres of this occupied habitat, and the clearcut would remove nests and prevent returning murrelets from nesting or engaging in other breeding-related activities there…” and noted how the District Court explained  “the timber harvest would directly fragment a continuous stand of occupied forest and, using scientific studies, [demonstrated] how this fragmentation would foreseeably and negatively impact the murrelets’ breeding behaviors.” Opinion at 25.

“This case exemplifies the vital importance of citizen suits in our fight to save the planet. The State of Oregon knew the Marbled Murrelet used this land, but sold it anyways to be clearcut. The Federal Government knew the Marbled Murrelet used the Benson Ridge tract for nesting and reproduction, yet took no action to stop Scott Timber Company’s logging plans. Only through the decades-long effort of these public interest organizations was this land and its nesting Marbled Murrelets protected – in perpetuity – from devastation. Moving forward, timber companies should pay close attention to the existence of Marbled Murrelets on their property, as we certainly will be,” said Daniel Synder of Public Justice.

In addition to winning the Benson Ridge case, the organizations successfully legally challenged the other Elliott privatization efforts with a separate lawsuit.

In recent years, a diversity of stakeholders have successfully worked to “decouple” the Elliott State Forest from the Common School Fund through a series of legislative appropriations and transition it into the Elliott State Research Forest. No longer is there an obligation to clearcut the Elliott to fund public schools in Oregon, and the forest will now be managed with an emphasis on older forest conservation and research.

The conservation organizations were represented by Daniel Kruse of Kruse & Saint Marie LLC, Daniel Snyder of Public Justice, Nick Cady of Cascadia Wildlands and Brian Segee of the Center for Biological Diversity.

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Cascadia Wildlands works on behalf of its over 15,000 members and supporters to defend and restore Cascadia’s wild ecosystems in the forests, in the courts, and in the streets. 

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.1 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

Bird Alliance of Oregon (formerly Portland Audubon) was founded in 1902 to promote the understanding, enjoyment and protection of native birds, other wildlife and their habitats. Today, it represents over 16,000 members in Oregon.

Founded in January 1982, Public Justice (originally Trial Lawyers for Public Justice) is a nonprofit legal advocacy organization that takes on purveyors of corporate corruption, sexual abusers and harassers, and polluters who ravage the environment.

The post Press Release: Ninth Circuit Upholds Conservationists’ Efforts to Stop Coastal Old-Growth Logging first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

* The deadline for this action has past.
* This hike has already happened.

Our field checking intern wrote up a blog post from the visit to Flat Country. Check it out!

Join Cascadia Wildlands for a visit to the Flat Country timber sale, a 5,000 acre logging proposal in the Willamette National Forest. We will spend the day learning about this sale and exploring old forest stands that would be impacted. Attendees will get a hands on lesson in the basics of field surveying for public lands defense, and walk away with next steps each of us can take toward engaging in the comment process and protecting this special place.

The Flat Country sale proposed to do “regeneration harvest” (clearcut-style management) on 1,000 acres of old and mature forest at the headwaters of the McKenzie watershed. This sale is also adjacent to the Mt. Washington Wilderness and is an excellent setting for recreation in the relatively flat terrain that the name suggests . Many of the stands slated for clearcut contain healthy old forest and species and fish bearing streams

CARPOOLS leave at 9:30am from Cascadia Wildlands office east side parking lot (120 Shelton McMurphey Blvd, Eugene) for return by 4:30pm

The post Field Trip to Flat Country Timber Sale — March 14, 2020 first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

The post Roundup at the Shotcash Auction! — Sept. 12, 2019 first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

UPDATE:

Early in 2022, in honor of Earth Day, President Biden signed an executive order (EO) on Strengthening the Nation’s Forests, Communities, and Local Economies. The EO represents progress in its acknowledgement that old-growth and, notably, mature forests are essential against the worst impacts of climate change. It marks an incredible leap in the right direction, but it does not actually protect these forests from the greatest threat that they face: logging. The question remains how exactly federal agencies are to incorporate the EO’s directives into standing, threatened old-growth and mature forest timber sales like Flat Country.

In response to the EO, Cascadia Wildlands and our allies submitted a “significant new information” letter detailing new law and policy as well as changed on-the-ground conditions stemming from the 2020 Holiday Farm wildfire nearby. The Forest Service’s 2020 environmental impact statement and January 2021 final Record of Decision (ROD) for the sale approving the 5,000-acre timber sale does not consider these important issues as required by the National Environmental Policy Act. With the letter, the groups are asking the agency to perform a supplemental environmental review of the new information that arose since 2020. As of Fall, 2022, we had yet to hear a response from the Forest Service.

Then, the U.S. Forest Service ended 2022 with a decision worth celebrating. The federal agency decided to withdraw its plans for the Flat Country timber sale, which would have affected some more than 100-year-old trees in a nearly 75,000 acre project area in the Willamette National Forest near McKenzie Bridge. The Eugene Weekly reported on this withdrawal.

We are still watching this forest for any changes or additional sales that may arise.

ABOUT THE SALE:

The Flat Country timber sale was recently featured in a scathing report released by the Climate Forest campaign as the second worst timber sale happening on public lands today in a report titled Worth More Standing.

The Flat Country timber sale is located on the traditional lands of the Molalla, Kalapuya and other indigenous peoples who’ve lived, traded and traveled on these lands since time immemorial.

Map of the Flat Country project area (click image to enlarge), adjacent to the Mt. Washington Wilderness. The southern portion of the sale, which begins at the junction of Hwy 126 and Hwy 242 is approx. 6 miles from the town of McKenzie Bridge, Oregon and on the opposite side of the McKenzie River. This map is available as a georeferenced PDF here.

Why This Forest Is Special

The Flat Country timber sale is within the Willamette National Forest in an area that extends from Scott Mountain to the upper reaches of the McKenzie River. Moss-covered Douglas firs and western hemlocks grow to more than 200 feet tall and 5 to 6 feet wide. Delicate vine maple and Pacific rhododendron combine in the understory to make these forests as magical as they are important. Almost 20 years ago, the Forest Service largely stopped logging older forests in western Oregon and western Washington following massive public outcry over decades of clearcutting these incomparable cathedral forests. However, 1 million acres of mature and old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest are not protected from federal logging. The Flat Country project is set to destroy a large swath of these irreplaceable forests.

Flat Country Timber Sale

This timber sale will aggressively log 2,000 acres of older forests in the McKenzie River headwaters, which provide fresh drinking water to hundreds of thousands of residents in the Willamette Valley. Several types of logging will be used, including clearcutting about 1,000 acres of mature and old-growth Douglas fir and western hemlock stands up to 170 years old.

Carbon and Biodiversity

The western Cascades produces some of the world’s oldest, largest carbon-storing champions. Among tree species, Douglas fir is a marathon runner rather than a sprinter and at 80 years it’s just begun to hit its stride. The trees will keep growing for centuries, accumulating massive amounts of captured atmospheric carbon in biomass. Snags and downed logs add significantly to carbon storage because of their slow rate of decay, helping combat climate change and providing critical wildlife habitat. Olallie and Anderson Creeks provide critical habitat for endangered bull trout and other aquatic species. The Forest Service admits this project will destroy and degrade habitat essential for threatened northern spotted owls, red tree voles, pileated woodpeckers, martens and goshawks.

Why These Trees Should Remain Standing

The Forest Service claims the Flat Country project is needed to “provide a sustainable supply of timber products” and to “improve stand conditions.” Yet private timber lands in Oregon are prolific producers of lumber, making Oregon the top softwood lumber producer in the country. The Forest Service’s claim that mature forests are “overstocked” are based on tree density measures developed for managing industrial wood production plantations, which is an inappropriate measure for natural forests. The planning documents said some “legacy” trees will be protected, but clearcutting everything except the largest trees is still a harmful clearcut.

The Future of Mature and Old-Growth Trees in Willamette National Forest

The groundbreaking 1994 Pacific Northwest Forest Plan protected mature and old-growth forests and trees 80 years and older from logging. However, the plan left 1 million acres of late successional forests open to logging. The Flat Country project is an attack on some of the last remaining mature and old-growth forests in the western Cascades. These trees are at grave risk unless there’s a federal policy to permanently protect them.

Cascadia Wildlands encourages the Forest Service to focus thinning on younger plantation stands under 80 years old, where thinning can help wildlife and also provide trees to local mills. Importantly, we encourage the Forest Service to drop all regeneration harvest on older stands, as this is incredibly destructive to forest and watershed health.

Check out what we saw during a trip out to Flat Country; written by our Field Checking Intern, Courtney Kaltenbach.

COMMUNITY OPPOSITION:

The contentious timber sale has been opposed by Congressman Peter DeFazio and prominent forest ecologists Jerry Franklin and Norm Johnson, often hailed as the primary architects of the Northwest Forest Plan (take a look at their gorgeous website). Cascadia Wildlands WildCAT volunteers have field checked virtually every unit in the massive timber sale area and have worked to highlight the importance of protecting this forest ecosystem. In addition to field checks, WildCATs have led public hikes, hosted information sessions, and tabled at events throughout western Oregon to bring attention to the egregious sale

In October, 2022 a “kayaktivist” flotilla of over 100 concerned community members rallied on the McKenzie River to protest Flat Country and call on the Biden Administration to drop the sale once and for all. 

HOW TO HELP:

At the moment, you can keep writing your letters to the editor and congress members opposing this project. You can reach out to agency leadership too — to let them know they are displeased with mature and old-growth logging in our public forests.

AGENCY LEADERSHIP —

• NEPA Planner at McKenzie River Ranger District, Willamette National Forest, U.S. Forest Service, Dean Schlichting: deandschlichting@fs.fed.us
• District Ranger, McKenzie River Ranger District, Willamette National Forest, Darren Cross: darren.cross@usda.gov
• USFS Regional Forester, Glenn Casamassa: glenn.casamassa@usda.gov
• Sec. of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack: Tom.Vilsack@osec.usda.gov
• Chief of U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service, Randy Moore: randy.moore@usda.gov

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The post Flat Country Timber Sale first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

By Gabe Scott, Alaska Field Director

CORDOVA, AK—Big plans are in the works on Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, the nation’s largest.

It seems everyone has some grand scheme in mind for the largest remaining old-growth forest in the country.

The Forest Service is planning huge new timber sales, which they say will bridge the gap to a transition to second-growth. (As I type this post my inbox dings, announcing the arrival of a Decision to log over 6,000 acres of old-growth on Prince of Wales Island. Uh oh. Better make this quick).

The State of Alaska wants the feds to hand over 2 million acres of the Tongass so the State can manage them as a tree farm. Oh, Alaska. Our Governors say the cutest things.

Sealaska, the big regional Alaska Native corporation, is pushing land claims of its own, wanting some tens of thousands of acres to manage how it wants. This one has some merit – Alaska Natives are owed additional land. But surely there’s a better way.

The timber industry, through a lobbying group called the Southeast Conference, is pushing for a revised Forest Plan that would yield more and more profitable timber sales. 

Conservation organizations like Trout Unlimited, The Nature Conservancy, and Audubon are pushing their own grand visions, which would permanently protect the most ecologically valuable acres from logging.

On top of the various visions are layered a bewildering array of collaborative working groups, teams, roundtables, task forces, committees and subcommittees.

The recent Tongass forest plan 5-year review presented an opportunity for Cascadia to put forward our own grand vision for the Tongass. Good! We were feeling left out. Here is what we had to say.

But here’s the thing. Every one of these grand visions and grand collaborative efforts has merit; and every one of them is doomed to fail. There are no silver bullets. No amount of new timber volume will bring back the good ‘ole days of logging. No amount of new designated Wilderness will ensure ecosystem health.

I for one wish we would all just stop looking for a final solution, and come to grips with the fact that living in harmony with nature is a life’s work. More than a life’s work, actually. Nobody has all the answers and nobody ever will. The best we can do is learn from our past, be honest about the present, and be cautious about what we leave for the future.

On the Tongass, we need to stop drawing maps, get our heads out of the clouds and our boots on the ground. Here on earth there’s good work to be done. There are hundreds of culverts blocking fish passage, for example, that everyone agrees need to be fixed, but that no-one is willing to take on because it’s hard, messy, expensive work. It will only be done by putting one foot in front of the other.

Don’t get me wrong, I love me some visionaries. But at the “end of the day” (is there even such a thing?), future generations won’t judge us by what we thought or what we said. They’ll judge us by what we DID.

In that vein, I’d better stop talking to you all and crack open the Big Thorne Timber Sale ROD. A hundred and forty-eight million board feet they say? Holy cow. We’ve got some work ahead of us. 

The post Delusions of grandeur on the Tongass first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Contact:
Josh Laughlin, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 844-8182
Noah Greenwald, Center for Biological Diversity, (503) 484-7495
Bob Sallinger, Portland Audubon Society, (503) 380-9728
Tanya Sanerib, Crag Law Center, (503) 525-2722

The post Press Release: State of Oregon Suspends 10 State Forest Timber Sales in Marbled Murrelet Habitat first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.