Campaigns

Old-growth clearcutting on the Willamette National Forest. Photo by Cascadia Wildlands.

The Cascadia Bioregion is the lush, forested region extending from northern California to southcentral Alaska. Cascadia Wildlands works within this bioregion (and the U.S.) where immediate threats to wild places are highest. Currently, these places are Oregon and southeast Alaska.

Decades of aggressive clearcutting have destroyed more than 80% of the original old-growth forests that once blanketed the Northwest. And year after year, our government plans and subsidizes public forest destruction for the profit of private timber companies.

Cascadia Wildlands uses a combination of education, organizing, outreach, agitation, litigation, advocacy, and collaboration to defend wild places and promote sustainable, restoration-based forestry. We focus on specific projects and campaigns that achieve tangible, on-the-ground results. When it comes to protecting Cascadia, we deliver.

Protecting Forests and Wild Places

Bunchgrass Ridge, Willamette National Forest. Photo by Brett Cole.

The formation of Cascadia Wildlands in 1998 was catalyzed by the lawless practice of clearcutting temperate ancient forests authorized by the Salvage Rider. As a result of this and continuing threats in this arena, we devote much of our efforts towards protecting old forests as they are critical to the survival of species teetering on the brink of extinction, including the marbled murrelet and northern spotted owl.
Continue reading “Protecting Forests and Wild Places”

Bringing Back Wolves

Imnaha pack pups 2013. Photo by ODFW.

Through trapping, poisoning and shooting, government agents and bounty hunters killed off every last gray wolf in Oregon, Washington and California by the 1940s. However, the species has begun to make a remarkable comeback in the Pacific West as wolves have migrated west after a successful re-introduction into the northern Rockies in the mid-1990s. Today, approximately 15 packs or alpha pairs now call Oregon home. Similar numbers have been restored into Washington. In 2015, an alpha pair had pups in California for the first time in nearly a century.

Misinformation, fear mongering, poaching and lethal control continue to confront gray wolves as they mount their historic comeback in the Pacific West. Cascadia Wildlands and allies are working tirelessly to protect and restore a viable population of wolves across the Northwest through advocacy, outreach, education and litigation. We are also a founding member and sit on the steering committee of the Pacific Wolf Coalition, which was formed in 2012 to promote gray wolf recovery in the Pacific West. Click here for more information and resources on gray wolf recovery. Visit our chronology of Oregon wolf recovery since 2008.

For more information:
Oregon wolves
Washington wolves
California wolves
Northern Rockies wolves
Maintaining federal wolf protections

Save Our Wild Salmon Heritage

Spawning salmon. Photo by USFWS.

Cascadia is a bioregion defined by the northeastern Pacific Ocean and the associated watersheds. Those watersheds are filled with rivers, creeks and rivulets and many of those waterways were filled with salmon and steelhead. So salmon—in a very real sense—once defined the place we live in and love. If we continue to squander this precious resource and lose our wild salmon, what does that say about us? We feel strongly that we cannot let that happenstance occur and therefore must restore and protect our wild salmon heritage.
Continue reading “Save Our Wild Salmon Heritage”

Combating Climate Change

The science supporting climate change and the role of fossil fuels in accelerating it are conclusive and is repeatedly borne out by myriad weather anomalies and arctic ice patterns, as well as biological phenomenon such as altered timing of migrations and species’ distributions. In spite of protestations by the fossil-fuels’ lobby and conservative think tanks, the change continues and the evidence mounts.
Continue reading “Combating Climate Change”

Strategic Litigation

Illinois River, Siskiyou Mountains. Photo by Rolf Skar.

Cascadia Wildlands consistently argues as the voice for wild places, wildlife and ecosystem function. Our comments are based on strong science, common sense, and an understanding that our fate is inextricably tied to the health and completeness of our ecosystems, but sometimes politicians, administrators and agencies fail to heed prudent advice.
Continue reading “Strategic Litigation”