Despite the dual worsening climate and biodiversity crises, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is pushing forward with a controversial plan to log over a thousand of acres of pristine, resilient old-growth forest habitat on public lands in Oregon’s Coast Range. The Blue and Gold logging project, located west of Yoncalla in the Umpqua River … Continue reading Say No to Blue and Gold Old-Growth Logging Project!
June 26, 2024 — Today, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a 2022 ruling from the District Court of Oregon that prevents Scott Timber Co. from clearcutting old-growth forest within Oregon’s Elliott State Forest. The court held that the proposed logging of the 355-acre Benson Ridge parcel by the subsidiary of Roseburg Forest Products would harm threatened marbled murrelets in violation of the federal Endangered Species Act. The case marks the first time a private timber company has been held to account in court for potential violations of the federal Endangered Species Act in Oregon.
May 28, 2024 — In response to a challenge brought by conservation organizations, on Friday a federal district court found that the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) violated the law with its “Integrated Vegetation Management” (IVM) program, which proposed aggressive logging in forest areas set aside for forest conservation.
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— written by WildCAT, Abe. On a bright October morning I had the honor of joining a group of volunteers and staff from Cascadia Wildlands for a day of field checking in the woods. Field Checking is the tactic of comparing existing conditions in the forest with conditions alleged in Forest Service sale proposals. Often, … Continue reading BLOG: Field Notes from the Calloway Timber Sale
September 19, 2023 — 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.
July 18, 2023 — 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.
April, 10, 2023 — 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.
October 8, 2022 — Today, a “kayaktivist” flotilla of over 100 concerned community members rallied on the McKenzie River to protest an old-growth logging sale in the Willamette National Forest. The Flat Country project, proposed by the U.S. Forest Service, targets over 2,000 acres of old-growth and mature forests for logging across the headwaters of the McKenzie River. The agency could auction the old growth to be cut at any moment. Attendees held up signs from boats and kayaks, and unfurled a large banner declaring “Forest Defense is Watershed Defense”, to draw attention to the logging sale’s impact on downstream drinking water.
October 4, 2022 — 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.
