Press Release: Court Rules Logging Project Violates Endangered Species Act


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.

Press Release: Conservationists Challenge Coast Range Logging Plan 


September 8, 2022 — 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.

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. 

Lawsuit Filed Challenging Removal of 3.4 Million Acres of Critical Spotted Owl Habitat


March 23, 2021 — Conservation groups in the Pacific Northwest filed a legal challenge to reinstate federal protections on more than 3.4 million acres of federal old-growth forests, which are essential for the survival of the threatened northern spotted owl. The lawsuit asks the court to reject a rule issued in the last days of the Trump administration that eliminated one-third of the critical habitat protections for the species. The nonprofit law firms Earthjustice and Western Environmental Law Center represent Audubon Society of Portland, Cascadia Wildlands, Center for Biological Diversity, Conservation Northwest, Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, Oregon Wild, Sierra Club and The Wilderness Society in the lawsuit.

Legal Victory: Lower Grave Timber Sale Halted


Old-Growth Timber Sale Above Rogue River Deemed Illegal Federal Judge Finds BLM Failed to Consider Approach to Reducing Fire Threat On the evening of July 2, Oregon Federal District Judge Michael McShane issued a legal order effectively halting the “Lower Graves” old-growth timber sale proposed above the popular lower Rogue River in the Grants Pass … Continue reading Legal Victory: Lower Grave Timber Sale Halted

Blog: Loaf(er)ing around the North Umpqua


by Jaclyn Hise and Amanda Martino, Cascadia Wildlands summer legal interns      Our first overnight field excursion as summer interns was visiting the Loafer timber sale in the Umpqua National Forest in the southern Oregon Cascades near the Umpqua Hot Springs. The units to be logged span both sides of the North Umpqua River, … Continue reading Blog: Loaf(er)ing around the North Umpqua

Press Release: Conservationists Challenge Controversial BLM Clear-Cutting Pilot Project


January 30, 2013 — Conservation groups today filed an administrative challenge to the proposed clearcutting of more than 100 acres of mature forests and spotted owl critical habitat on public lands near Canyonville. The White Castle Timber sale is part of the Roseburg Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Secretarial Pilot project, promoted by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar as a way of restoring the forest and increasing timber harvest on federal forest lands.

Press Release: Conservation Groups Challenge Crater Lake-Area Logging


January 2, 2013 — Conservationists today filed a Notice of Intent to challenge an old-growth logging sale on the doorstep of iconic Crater Lake National Park. The Umpqua National Forest is offering the sale as part of a massive proposal to log forests bordering the park, including some of the state’s most popular recreation areas around Lemolo and Diamond Lakes. Conservationists are expressing concern the Forest Service is violating laws designed to protect rare and vulnerable wildlife which also call the area home.