Stopping Destructive Logging
The Cascadia Wildlands Project works to stop native forest logging on federal public lands. Every year, the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management auction off thousands of acres of ancient forests to the highest bidder, leaving timber companies with huge profits and the public with fields of stumps, dense tree farms, and muddied waterways. Most of these native forest logging projects cost more to plan, implement, and manage afterwards than the agencies get from the sales, leaving taxpayer subsidies to cover the rest. Some Forest Service and BLM districts have phased out native forest logging, yet others continue this controversial and wasteful practice under pressure from timber lobbyists. With less than 10% of native forests remaining in our region and numerous wildlife species on the brink of extinction, it is high time to protect all remaining older forests and focus on restoring degraded landscapes.
Our strategies for protecting threatened forests include grassroots organizing, public education, strategic litigation, monitoring, media outreach, and political advocacy. We carefully select timber sales to target in our campaign work based on ecological values, community significance, broad policy implications, and legal precedents to be set.
