Contact:    
Nick Cady, Legal Director, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 434-1463                
Meriel Darzen, Staff Attorney, Crag Law Center
John Persell, Staff Attorney, Oregon Wild

Oakland, OR — Today Cascadia Wildlands and Oregon Wild filed a legal complaint challenging the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Blue and Gold logging project. The project proposes clearcutting old-growth forests in the Oregon Coast Range outside of Sutherlin, Oakland, and Yoncalla in the Umpqua River watershed. Ring counts of individual trees in the areas proposed to be logged indicate that some of the trees are over 1,000 years old. 

“We will not allow the destruction of the few older forest stands that remain in the Coast Range for the profit of private timber companies,” said Nick Cady with Cascadia Wildlands. “The Bureau of Land Management is putting Oregonians at increased risk of forest fires, jeopardizing water quality, and further imperiling at-risk species.” 

Current science shows older forests are far more resilient to wildfire than plantations and are key to mitigating the worst impacts of climate change. The Blue and Gold Project targets thousands of acres of some of the oldest and most pristine forest remaining on public lands, including several hundred acres of old forests along rivers and creeks. These are multi-century-old,  high-quality habitat for federally protected wildlife species, including northern spotted owls, marbled murrelets, and Oregon Coast coho salmon. The proposed logging would permanently degrade these rare older forests and convert them into timber plantations, destroying what little old-growth habitat remains for endangered species, increasing fire risk, and undermining climate resilience.  

The Bureau of Land Management is not legally permitted to log old-growth, and the targeting of this cherished area fomented dissent within the agency. Two former agency personnel who worked on the Blue and Gold Project have come forward, stating that the agency intentionally misrepresented the age of the targeted forests to permit the proposed logging. The individuals also informed Cascadia Wildlands that the agency’s wildlife surveys were conducted in a manner to avoid detections of imperiled species that would have prevented the timber sale. Agency biologists who generally ensure projects do not illegally harm endangered species were removed from oversight roles to expedite the proposed logging. 

“It should surprise no one that BLM has been manipulating its analysis to maximize logging. Courts have repeatedly exposed the agency’s disregard for the public interest in its pursuit of board feet,” said Oregon Wild staff attorney John Persell. “The mature and old-growth forests targeted for logging in the Blue and Gold project should instead be protected for the critical role they play in fighting climate change and protecting vulnerable fish and wildlife.”

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

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Background: The agency first proposed the Blue and Gold Project in December of 2019, releasing its Environmental Assessment on April 27, 2022, just five days after President Biden issued Executive Order 14072, directing federal agencies to protect remaining old-growth forests. Two days later, the agency pulled the proposal, citing a need for internal review. On August 1, 2024, the agency revived the project without significant changes, failing to follow the President’s direction to expand “bold efforts to tackle the climate crisis.” At each stage, the agency received hundreds of public comments opposing the project. 

On September 19, 2024, Oregon Wild, Cascadia Wildlands, and Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, along with 40 other organizations, sent a letter to the BLM asking that the agency issue guidance on mature and old-growth logging. 

Photography.

The post Lawsuit Launched to Prevent Old-Growth Logging in Oregon Coast Range first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Portland, OR — Conservation groups informed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today that they intend to sue over the agency’s denial of Endangered Species Act protections to the imperiled North Oregon Coast population of red tree voles. The Service’s decision to deny protections in February echoes a 2019 Trump administration denial, which was made despite several previous findings that protection was warranted. North Coast voles are threatened by logging and climate change-fueled wildfires. 

“We need protections for these ridiculously cute red tree voles, who spend virtually their entire lives in the tops of big trees, eating conifer needles,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species program director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s not rocket science that when these trees are logged or burned, tree voles die. On Oregon’s North Coast, decades of rampant clearcutting have nearly wiped out the vole’s populations.”   

Red tree voles build their nests on complex branch and bole structures found in old growth forest. The North Coast is dominated by a combination of private industrial timberlands and the Tillamook and Clatsop state forests. Decades of rapacious clearcut logging, as well a series of historic fires known as the Tillamook Burn, have eliminated the vast majority of the area’s old forests, along with the red tree voles that once called them home. 

“Red tree voles are a harbinger of the health of our forests; they are suffering the negative impacts of decades of mismanagement,” said Bethany Cotton, conservation director with Cascadia Wildlands. “It’s long past time for the agency tasked with safeguarding imperiled species to do its job and provide these adorable forest dwellers with the protections they need to recover.” 

Remaining North Coast voles are concentrated on federal lands administered by the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Although the Northwest Forest Plan helps protect these remaining small and isolated populations, the long-term survival of the voles depends on improving state and private land forest management.  

The state forests are in the process of adopting a habitat conservation plan that will provide some protection to the vole. But the plan will also allow continued logging of thousands of acres of potential vole habitat without any surveys to determine if the species is present. The tree vole currently has no protections on private forests.  

“The red tree vole, and the diverse older forests it inhabits, are vital to the survival of northern spotted owls, wild salmon and countless other species,” said Danielle Moser, wildlife program manager for Oregon Wild. “These forests and wildlife are a critical part of Oregon’s natural heritage, and they should be protected as a legacy for future generations; not destroyed for short-term profit.” 

In response to a 2007 Center petition, the Service determined in 2011 that protection of the North Oregon Coast population of red tree voles was “warranted but precluded.” It then moved the voles to a list of candidate species for a decade until it reversed course and denied protections in 2019. A Center lawsuit over the denial resulted in a 2022 settlement directing the Service to reconsider the decision. 

“Red tree voles (everyone’s favorite tree hamsters) are threatened by logging and wildfire, yet the Fish and Wildlife Service has gone to great lengths to contradict its own findings that this species deserves protection,” said Quinn Read, conservation director at Bird Alliance of Oregon. “Red tree voles don’t have time for bureaucratic delays — the agency must do its job to protect this species and its forest habitat.” 

Today’s notice of intent was sent by the Center for Biological Diversity, Bird Alliance of Oregon, Cascadia Wildlands and Oregon Wild.  

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Cascadia Wildlands defends and restores 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 1.7 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.  

Bird Alliance of Oregon was founded in 1902 and works statewide to advocate for Oregon’s wildlife and wild places, and to inspire all people to love and protect birds, wildlife, and the natural environment upon which life depends.  

The post Press Release: Lawsuit Launched to Protect Oregon’s Red Tree Voles  first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Contact:
Peter Jensen, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 434-1463
Lindsey Hutchison, Willamette Riverkeeper
John Persell, Oregon Wild

Eugene, OR — In response to legal pressure, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) withdrew the proposed 4,600-acre Big League logging project in the Calapooia and Mohawk River Watersheds northeast of Eugene.

In November, conservation organizations Willamette Riverkeeper, Cascadia Wildlands, and Oregon Wild challenged the agency’s failure to take the required “hard look” at the project’s impacts on a host of environmental values, including spotted owl habitat, carbon storage, stream flows, and water quality. Specifically, the proposal authorized clearcut logging of the last and highest quality older forest stands in the Calapooia and Mohawk River watersheds on already fragmented public lands. 

Of particular concern, the agency failed to fully analyze the effects of logging and road construction activities on Upper Willamette River spring Chinook salmon, which are protected as a “threatened” species by the federal Endangered Species Act. According to a 2011 analysis by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), these salmon are at a “very high risk” of extinction and logging units within the Big League Project directly abut the species’ critical habitat in the Calapooia River.

In response to the lawsuit, the agency agreed not to move forward with logging in the project area unless and until the agency completes a robust public process, including further National Environmental Policy Act analysis, public comment, and Endangered Species Act consultation for Upper Willamette spring Chinook salmon. In response to these commitments, the conservation groups dismissed their legal challenge.

“While we are pleased that the Bureau of Land Management has opted to shelve the Big League Project,” said Peter Jensen, legal fellow with Cascadia Wildlands, “thoughtful and thorough consideration of environmental impacts and imperiled species must come far earlier in the planning process as a matter of agency priority, not legal reactivity.”

“It is unfortunate that the Bureau of Land Management is only willing to engage in critical and required environmental analysis after the agency has been challenged in court,” said Lindsey Hutchison of Willamette Riverkeeper. “It should not take a lawsuit to convince the BLM to follow the law.”

“We can all breathe a sigh of relief that, for now, these older stands can continue to grow and provide carbon storage to combat climate change and fish and wildlife habitat,” said John Persell of Oregon Wild. “Still, we will be tracking the BLM’s future actions in these watersheds closely to make sure the agency doesn’t try another end-run around bedrock environmental laws.” 

The post Press Release: Feds Withdraw Controversial Big League Logging Project Following Legal Challenge 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.

A broad coalition of organizations—Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides, Cascadia Wildlands, Willamette Riverkeeper, 350PDX, Neighbors for Clean Air, and ACLU of Oregon—filed a lawsuit against DHS, calling out its failure to consider the potentially severe human and environmental health impacts of its violent operation in Portland. This despite the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requiring that hard look.

After a federal judge in Oregon dismissed the case on shaky grounds, the coalition appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In part, the government argued that it was too late for a court to get involved because the operation had ended in Portland and doing an environmental review after the fact would do no good. On January 20, 2023, the Ninth Circuit agreed with the government that there was no longer a role for the courts to remedy our members’ injuries.

Respectfully, we dissent. Our coalition is committed to continuing to advocate for an end to the domestic use of tear gas. Measuring the impacts of tear gas on people and our environments is not only possible, but it is required by federal law. We stand ready to hold the government accountable to us the next time.

The post Statement on the 9th Circuit Court Ruling Dismissing our Portland Teargas Case first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

This month, conservation groups finalized a legal agreement with the Bureau of Land Management to reverse a Trump-era rule excluding vastly more logging in post-fire landscapes from detailed environmental review. The agreement resolves a legal challenge the groups brought against the agency in October, 2021.

“Categorical exclusions” allow agencies to approve actions having minimal environmental effects without detailed environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act. The Trump rule increased the maximum area for categorical exclusions permitting logging of “dead or dying trees” from 250 acres to 3,000 acres—a 1,200% increase. The rule also doubled the maximum amount of permitted road construction from one-half to one mile of permanent road. The previous categorical exclusion rule required those roads to be temporary. The Bureau will now engage in rulemaking to remove the categorical exclusion language from its NEPA implementing procedures and revert to the old guidance. In the meantime, BLM will refrain from using the categorical exclusion.

“The categorical exclusion defied the overwhelming scientific consensus that post-disturbance logging is a harmful ecological ‘tax’ on the environment,” said Susan Jane Brown, Wildlands and Wildlife Program director at the Western Environmental Law Center. “While the Biden administration did not independently choose to correct these harmful and illegal policies, we are pleased our case has prompted this needed correction. Some things are too important to brush off.”

“This outcome is a significant win for imperiled species, like coho salmon, Pacific fisher, and the northern spotted owl,” said Josh Laughlin, executive director at Cascadia Wildlands. “No longer can the government plan massive timber sales in fragile, post-fire environments without a full accounting of their impacts on the environment.”

“The BLM has a long history of throwing out the rulebook when conducting post-fire clearcutting,” said George Sexton of KS Wild. “This agreement establishes that BLM timber planners can’t simply dodge the law to achieve logging targets.”

“When managing our public lands, BLM should uphold the letter and spirit of the law. This means involving the public and carefully weighing environmental trade-offs,” said Doug Heiken of Oregon Wild. “Categorical exclusions are a loophole that should be limited to truly low-impact actions that don’t raise any public concerns.”

“There’s no ecological justification for post-fire logging. It’s like mugging a burn victim.,” said co-plaintiff Soda Mountain Wilderness Council’s Dave Willis. “I expect BLM will still try, but it won’t be as easy for them now. It will now be harder for BLM to hide the negative ecological impacts of its post-fire intentions.”

“Post-fire ecosystems are extremely sensitive and categorical exclusions are only meant for minor actions with minimal impact,” said Willamette Riverkeeper staff attorney Lindsey Hutchison. “This settlement is a win for the species that rely on these ecosystems, will allow for the public to be involved in these actions, and will ensure that environmental impacts are fully assessed.”

Background:
General ecological concerns associated with post-fire logging include impacts to soils, understory vegetation, fuel loads, and post-fire habitat features including snags and burned logs. Post-fire logging almost always prioritizes removing larger dead trees highly valuable to many wildlife.

The best available science indicates that post-fire logging is detrimental to wildlife because of the vital role down wood and snags play in meeting life history needs of wildlife species. Unlogged, naturally regenerated, young stands are some of the most ecologically complex wildlife habitat and essential to many species. The biodiversity of these stands’ rivals that of old-growth forests, and young stands are one of the rarest forest types in the Pacific Northwest. Post-fire logging also harms big game populations by removing hiding cover after the landscape is changed by fire and by increasing adverse impacts related to construction and use of roads. Post-fire logging negatively affects water quality: By adding another stressor to burned watersheds, post-fire logging impedes recovery of aquatic systems, lowers water quality, and shrinks the distribution and abundance of native aquatic species. Post-fire- logging worsens fire effects and increases runoff volume, runoff velocities, and sediment concentrations. The best available science shows post-fire logging increases subsequent fire severity—it does not reduce the intensity or severity of later fires.

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The post Press Release: Forest Advocates Knock out Massive Trump Post-fire Logging Loophole first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Contacts:
Nick Cady, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 434-1463
Sangye Ince-Johannsen, Western Environmental Law Center
George Sexton, KS Wild
Doug Heiken, Oregon Wild

Court: Approval of old-growth timber sales in northern spotted owl habitat violated Endangered Species Act

Late Friday, a judge in the District Court for the District of Oregon ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) justification for Bureau of Land Management (Bureau) timber sales totaling nearly 18,000 acres including in old growth forest violated the Endangered Species Act. The judge ruled against the Service’s claim that old-growth logging in the Poor Windy and Evans Creek timber sales on 15,848 acres of threatened northern spotted owl habitat would not harm the imperiled bird species.

“While we are pleased with this result, it goes to show how emboldened our public land managers have become in pursuing the almighty board-foot, that they are willing to tell the American people and a federal judge that logging thousands of acres of habitat occupied by a threatened species like the northern spotted owl will cause zero ‘harm,’” said Sangye Ince-Johannsen, attorney at the Western Environmental Law Center. “The agencies’ singular focus on extraction over stewardship should concern every Oregonian, but today I’m grateful the law forbids that in some cases.”   

“This ruling should serve as a wake-up call to the BLM,” said George Sexton, conservation director for KS Wild. “It’s time for the BLM to work with stakeholders to thin second-growth timber plantations to reduce fire hazard instead of chasing around controversial old-growth timber sales in the backcountry.”

Judge Aiken also found that the Bureau and the Service illegally failed to consult on the effects of the East Evans Creek and Milepost 97 wildfires that actively burned the timber sale area as the Service concluded its evaluation. The Milepost 97 fire burned 4,706 acres of northern spotted owl habitat and reduced canopy closure below 40% in a narrow but vitally important east-west habitat bridge. 

“These are fire-prone, dry areas, and we opposed this massive logging project because it would increase fire risks and hazards for the surrounding community,” said Nick Cady with Cascadia Wildlands. “The agencies keep pushing logging projects that are putting our communities at risk, and it is past time that fire impacts drive our land management decisions, especially on public lands.”

Finally, Judge Aiken faulted the agencies for failing to analyze the effect of habitat loss resulting from these logging projects on the competitive interactions between the barred and spotted owl. 

Judge Aiken wrote that the Service “was not faced with scientific uncertainty, but unanimity concerning the negative impact of reduced [nesting, roosting, and foraging] habitat and the barred owls’ threat to the spotted owl based on the barred owls’ ability to out-compete for food and shelter,” order at 23. “In offering an explanation counter to the evidence after considering important aspects of the problem, [the Service] ultimately minimized the effect of the action and its conclusions are not supported by the evidence,’” order at 22.

“The agencies need to recognize that when two territorial species are competing for the same rare old-growth habitat, any reduction of habitat from logging will increase the chances of extinction.” said Doug Heiken of Oregon Wild.

Images for media use:
Kelsey Furman of KS Wild in unit 23-09 of the Poor Windy old-growth timber sale (Credit: KS Wild)
Proposed new logging road location through an old-growth forest in the Poor Windy Timber Sale (Credit: KS Wild)
 

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The post Press Release: Court Rules Logging Project Violates Endangered Species Act 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:       
Nick Cady, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 434-1463
Sophia Ressler, Center for Biological Diversity
Lizzy Pennock, WildEarth Guardians
Jocelyn Leroux, Western Watersheds
Tim Coleman, Kettle Range Conservation Group

Requirements for Nonlethal Measures Sought for State Endangered Species

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Five conservation groups filed a lawsuit today asking a state court to enforce Gov. Jay Inslee’s order directing state wildlife officials to enact wolf management rules. The rules should have outlined what steps must be taken before wolves can be killed for conflict with livestock.

Today’s filing notes that Gov. Inslee ordered the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife to undertake a formal wolf rulemaking process in 2020, following a petition from conservation organizations. The petition asked the state to require the use of nonlethal deterrence measures by livestock operators before authorizing the killing of wolves involved in livestock conflicts. While the department started this process, in July the state’s wildlife commission voted 5-4 not to enact the proposed rules.

“Gov. Inslee recognizes that Washington needs science-based nonlethal strategies to protect wolves and livestock, but some wildlife commissioners are ignoring his request,” said Sophia Ressler, a staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “We’re asking the court to recognize the governor’s authority and require commissioners to finally approve wolf rules they were supposed to finalize long ago. We need rules that put a check on the state’s trigger-happy approach to managing imperiled wolves.”

The groups filed their May 2020 petition in response to state officials’ repeated killing of wolves on behalf of one livestock owner in northeast Washington, where the lack of adequate conflict-deterrence measures has resulted in chronic conflicts. The petition also aimed to prevent chronic conflict areas from developing elsewhere in the state by standardizing accountable and enforceable measures statewide.

“Unfortunately, by failing to take action to promulgate science-based wolf management regulations despite Gov. Inslee’s clear direction, the WDFW Commission has aligned itself with anti-wolf minority interests,” said Nick Cady, legal director for Cascadia Wildlands. “We were only asking the agency to follow its own guidelines.”

“Washington’s wolves needed the commission to put enforceable rules in place requiring livestock producers to use effective nonlethal conflict mitigation measures,” said Lizzy Pennock, carnivore coexistence advocate at WildEarth Guardians. “Instead, five members of the nine-member commission wasted two years of work and voted for the status quo: irresponsible livestock grazing and government-sponsored wolf killing.”

“The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission’s July decision to not enact a rule to better protect Washington’s wolves from agency killings was not only disappointing, but illegal,” said Jocelyn Leroux, Washington and Montana director with Western Watersheds Project. “The commission ignored Gov. Inslee’s direction to create a rule that would ensure improved livestock-wolf conflict management and save wolves now and into the future.”

“Rulemaking is an important process in the governance of public resources, in this case, gray wolf recovery in Washington,” said Timothy Coleman, executive director for Kettle Range Conservation Group. “An essential element of a rule is to establish a level playing field, that is, clearly defining standards and processes that government and the public must follow. The current wolf management strategy of the Department of Fish and Wildlife is more like a game of rugby, whatever comes out of the scrum of pro and con wolf interests is how the game is played. But that’s arbitrary and it’s really more about who has more mojo rather than a fair set of rules that everyone abides by – that’s what this petition is striving to achieve.”

Today’s lawsuit was filed in in Thurston County Superior Court on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity, Cascadia Wildlands, Kettle Range Conservation Group, Western Watersheds Project and WildEarth Guardians.

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The post Press Release: Lawsuit Challenges Washington’s Failure to Enact Wolf Management Rules first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.