Tag: logging

Press Release: Conservation Groups Challenge BLM’s “Big League” Logging Project Due to Impacts on Imperiled Spring Chinook Salmon Habitat and Other Values

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 7, 2023

Eugene, Oregon – Today, conservation organizations Willamette Riverkeeper, Cascadia Wildlands, and Oregon Wild filed suit against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), challenging the agency’s authorization of the approximately 4,600-acre Big League Project in the Calapooia and Mohawk River Watersheds northeast of Eugene. According to the groups’ complaint, the BLM violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by failing to take the required “hard look” at the impacts that the Big League Project would have on a host of environmental values, including spotted owl habitat, carbon storage, stream flows, and water quality. Specifically, this project plans to clearcut the last and best older forest stands in the Calapooia and Mohawk River Watersheds. 

Press Release: Legal Challenge to BLM’s Late Successional Reserve Logging Scheme

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.

Press Release: Protestors Call Out Biden’s Mature and Old-Growth Logging Sales at Portland Forest Service Office

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 17, 2022

Portland, OR — Today, forest and climate activists gathered at Terry Schrunk Plaza across from the Forest Service Region 6 offices in support of stronger protections for mature and old-growth forests.

Press Release: U.S. Agencies Undermine Biden’s Public Forest Protection Pledge with Logging Plans, According to Report

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 14, 2023

EUGENE, OR — As world leaders gather to address the climate crisis, U.S. land management agencies are undermining President Joe Biden’s commitment to conserve mature and old-growth forests and trees by proposing to log thousands of acres on public lands that serve as climate-saving carbon sinks, as well as providing wildlife habitat and clean drinking water for communities.

Press Release: Mature and old-growth logging sale undermines Biden climate policy; threatens McKenzie River, habitat

August 2, 2022 — Today, old-growth forest and wildlife advocates provided the U.S. Forest Service the means to reconsider the pending Trump-era “Flat Country” timber sale in Oregon’s Willamette National Forest. The vast majority of the proposed logging would be in mature and old-growth forests, with over 1,000 acres of clearcutting, even though President Biden this year ordered his administration to prioritize conserving these forests as a crucial climate protection.

WildCATs field checking the Windy Peak Unit in the N126 timber sale (photo by Anupam Katkar).

Press Release: Conservationists Challenge Logging Plan

May 26, 2022 — Late yesterday, Oregon-based conservation organizations Cascadia Wildlands and Oregon Wild challenged the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Siuslaw Field Office’s plan to log public lands west of Eugene across seven watersheds. The agency’s “N126 Late Successional Reserve Landscape Plan Project” is one of the largest logging proposals on public lands in Oregon in decades. The targeted forests are home to at least three federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) listed species: northern spotted owl, marbled murrelet, and Oregon Coast coho salmon, along with the red tree vole, which is currently a candidate for ESA listing. The agency failed entirely to consider impacts to these species, amongst other errors. 

Guest Opinion: QMS logging project will undermine Willamette National Forest recreation

by Nadene LeCheminant | Guest Opinion in The Statesman Journal
Originally published at 11:00am on December 24, 2021.

I moved to Oregon 16 years ago, drawn by its physical beauty. The Cascade Mountains are the primary reason I chose to live in Salem.

I was dismayed to learn about the proposed Quartzville-Middle Santiam logging project being planned in the Willamette National Forest. This massive project covers a staggering 89,000 acres between Detroit and Sweet Home.

BLOG: Reporting Back from the Oakridge/Westfir Field Visit

By Danielle Curtis, 2021 Summer Legal Intern On an uncharacteristically rainy morning in mid-June, myself, along with my fellow Cascadia team members, pulled into the Middle Fork Willamette Ranger Station. … Continue reading BLOG: Reporting Back from the Oakridge/Westfir Field Visit

Recreation and Wildlands Enthusiasts Celebrate as Local Clearcut Proposal Defeated in Court for a Second Time

For Immediate ReleaseJune 4, 2021 ContactRonna Frank, Thurston Hills Resident, 541-747-7867Ian Petersen, Owner Map Your Adventure and Thurston Mountain Biker, 801-455-1027Nick Cady, Cascadia Wildlands, nick@cascwild.org, 314-482-3746Doug Heiken, Oregon Wild, dh@oregonwild.org, … Continue reading Recreation and Wildlands Enthusiasts Celebrate as Local Clearcut Proposal Defeated in Court for a Second Time

Protect older natural forests in the western Cascades

By Jerry F. Franklin and K. Norman Johnson | Guest OpinionOriginally published in The Register-Guard April 27, 2021 Almost 20 years ago, the U.S. Forest Service essentially stopped logging older … Continue reading Protect older natural forests in the western Cascades