Press Release: Conservationists Challenge BLM Clearcut of Endangered Species Habitat
Eugene, OR — Today, conservation groups challenged a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) logging project that would clearcut mature and old-growth forests and degrade protected wildlife habitat for endangered species. The Big Weekly Elk logging sale, proposed by the BLM’s Coos Bay District, includes logging over 3,500 acres of forest, including areas supposed to be set aside to protect marbled murrelets.
Breaking: Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission ends wildlife killing contests on Oregon’s public lands
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, September 15, 2023
BEND, Oregon (Sept. 15, 2023)—Today at a hearing in Bend, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission voted unanimously to prohibit wildlife killing contests for coyotes and other species classified as unprotected mammals in the state. A coalition of 22 local and national wildlife and conservation organizations and hunters, wildlife management professionals, scientists, veterinarians, and advocates across Oregon submitted testimony in support.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, July 20, 2023
Public comment period concludes for pathway to rulemaking on how Forest Service manages national forests
Eugene, OR — More than 500,000 people have submitted public comments to the U.S. Forest Service calling for the agency to adopt a rule that protects mature and old-growth trees and forests on federal land as a cornerstone of U.S. climate policy. Activists were joined by organizers from the Climate Forests Campaign, a coalition which includes Oregon Wild, Cascadia Wildlands, and WildEarth Guardians, to deliver some of these public comments at an event at the Wayne Morse Federal Courthouse in Eugene on Thursday, July 20, 2023.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 18, 2023
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.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 17, 2023
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.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 8, 2023
Renewed Cook Creek Logging Will Harm Coho Salmon, Marbled Murrelets
PORTLAND, Ore. — The Center for Biological Diversity and Cascadia Wildlands filed a notice of intent today to sue the Federal Emergency Management Agency for funding the reopening of Cook Creek Road in the Oregon Coast Range.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Saturday, April 22, 2023
Eugene, OR — Hundreds of concerned community members gathered Eugene, Oregon on Earth Day for a rally and demonstration in support of a proposed new national rule to protect mature and old-growth trees and forests on federally managed public lands. As thousands of acres of forests on public lands are threatened to be logged, members of the public were joined by Eugene Mayor Lucy Vinis and Eugene City Councilmember Matt Keating to urge federal agencies to protect mature and old-growth forests as a cornerstone of U.S. climate policy.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 18, 2023
Today, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) released its annual report of the minimum 2022 gray wolf population and pack count for the state, which shows a continuing pattern of very low growth. The 178 wolves documented in 2022 is only an increase of three wolves over year-end 2021 numbers, while the number of wolf packs increased from 21 to 24. The state’s minimum wolf population only grew by two wolves in 2021, from 173 to 175 wolves. The stagnant population numbers are a cause for great concern in a state with significant suitable – yet unoccupied – wolf habitat. Removal of state Endangered Species Act protections was predicated on an assumed steady population increase, an assumption that has proven false since 2020.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April, 10, 2023
Medford, Oregon — Today a coalition of conservation organizations filed a legal complaint challenging the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) “Integrated Vegetation Management” (IVM) program that would aggressively log forest stands located within Late Successional Reserves, areas purportedly set aside for forest conservation. In particular, IVM authorizes so-called “gap creation” and “open seral” logging prescriptions within mature and old-growth forests that are fire-resilient and provide important habitat at-risk wildlife species.
