Author: Arran Robertson

Eugene, OR – Today, the Trump administration issued a sweeping anti-environment directive that targets America’s National Forests for an increase in industrial logging at the expense of fish and wildlife habitat, clean drinking water, recreation, and the health of our forests. Oregon Wild strongly condemns this order, which promises to ramp up logging of mature and old-growth forests and threatens the health and safety of communities across the country.

“After pointlessly draining California reservoirs and gutting the ranks of park rangers, wildlife biologists, and other public lands civil servants, Trump has now set his sights on looting the American public’s forests. This plan is just as reckless and ill-conceived,” said John Persell, Oregon Wild Staff Attorney. “Oregonians have fought for decades to protect our forests from destructive logging, and we’re not about to let this administration unravel those hard-won protections without a fight.”

The executive order seeks to fast-track logging. By calling out the Endangered Species Act and the imperiled fish and wildlife habitats it protects, Trump is making it clear his administration will be targeting mature and old-growth forests. There is overwhelming scientific evidence that these forests are the most resilient to fire and essential for wildlife, clean water, and carbon storage. By gutting environmental protections and slashing oversight and citizen involvement, the Trump administration is making it easier for industry to log public lands without accountability.

“The idea that this is about wildfire prevention is a sham,” said Steve Pedery, Oregon Wild Conservation Director. “Trump’s order is about enriching timber corporations and deregulating the industry. Our public lands agencies have all the tools they need to log and manage for wildfire, but thanks to the Musk firings, they do not have the staff and expertise. What Trump is championing will not only increase wildfire risk, it will harm communities across Oregon and the country.”

“This move is part of a broader pattern of chaos, incompetence, and corruption that has defined the Trump administration’s early moves on public lands. By weakening environmental protections and fast-tracking logging permits, Trump is undermining safeguards that have protected our forests and communities for decades.”

At town halls across the country, including in Oregon, Americans have voiced fear and outrage over the mass firing of National Park Service, Forest Service, and Bureau of Land Management professionals as part of Trump and Musk’s ideological crusade to dismantle the federal workforce. Oregon’s sole Republican Congressman, Cliff Bentz, faced hostile audiences throughout his conservative district last month, with many attendees expressing deep concern over the purge of public lands employees.

“Trump and his allies fundamentally misunderstand America’s public lands. He sees them not as a shared heritage that belongs to all Americans, but as just another asset to be looted by political cronies,” continued Pedery. “Oregon Wild has a long history of holding both Republican and Democratic administrations accountable and upholding protections for America’s National Forests, Parks, Monuments, and other public lands. We stand ready to do so again.”

Trump also signed a second order today that tries to present this effort to loot America’s public lands as a solution to housing prices and lumber imports from Germany, Brazil, and Canada. The US imports almost no construction lumber from Germany or Brazil, and housing experts have warned his planned taxes on trade with Canada will slow homebuilding and drive up the price of materials.

“There couldn’t be a starker contrast between administrations,” said Lauren Anderson, Climate Forests Campaign Manager for Oregon Wild. “The Biden administration’s executive order on forests provided broad public benefits and was grounded in science, recognizing that mature and old-growth forests are our best natural climate solution. That initiative generated over one million supportive comments. Trump is doing the exact opposite—undermining the very idea of public lands to benefit his wealthy allies.”

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Oregon Wild represents 20,000 members and supporters who share our mission to protect and restore Oregon’s wildlands, wildlife, and water as an enduring legacy. Our goal is to protect areas that remain intact while striving to restore areas that have been degraded.

Portland, Oregon — Oregon Wild announced today a settlement with the U.S. Forest Service regarding the Grasshopper logging project in the Mount Hood National Forest. The agreement includes significant changes that will result in better protections for mature and old-growth forests, northern spotted owl habitat, and carbon storage, while allowing for forest management activities focused on smaller-diameter thinning and prescribed fire. 

Under the settlement, the Forest Service has agreed to:

• Impose diameter limits throughout the project to protect the largest, oldest trees.
• Retain cedar and Pacific yew trees throughout the project area.
• Drop two old-growth logging units.
• Limit logging in four additional units to ensure better outcomes for mature and old-growth stands.

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These measures represent a substantial improvement over the original project decision, which conservationists argued would have caused significant harm to the area’s ecological integrity and the species that depend on it.

“The settlement reflects a vital correction to the Grasshopper Project, ensuring that forest health, wildlife habitat, and climate resilience are not shortchanged,” said John Persell, Staff Attorney for Oregon Wild. “By getting a commitment from the Forest Service to protect the largest and oldest trees, protect key species, and scale back aggressive logging, long-term ecological benefits are now prioritized over short-term extraction.”

The Grasshopper Project is located in a unique transition zone between the wetter west-side and the drier east-side forests of the Cascade Crest, directly south of the Badger Creek Wilderness. Originally, the project proposed logging across 5,000 acres and would have removed 4,000 logging trucks’ worth of timber from public lands, including large swaths of mature and old-growth trees.

Oregon Wild challenged the project in June of 2023, citing violations of the National Environmental Policy Act and the project’s misalignment with the Biden Administration’s policy to conserve mature and old-growth forests for biodiversity and as a natural climate solution. Oregon Wild is represented by its staff attorney John Persell and Meriel Darzen from the Crag Law Center.

“We are encouraged to see the Forest Service agreeing to make meaningful improvements to this project without requiring protracted litigation. This outcome represents an important achievement for Mt. Hood National Forest that will benefit the community and the forest,” said Meriel Darzen, senior attorney at Crag Law Center who co-represented Oregon Wild in the lawsuit and settlement negotiations.  

The settlement also addresses concerns regarding carbon storage and the impacts of logging on northern spotted owls, a species listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The revised project design maintains key habitat features, such as canopy cover and stand density, that are essential for spotted owls and other old-growth-dependent species.

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Oregon Wild represents 20,000 members and supporters who share our mission to protect and restore Oregon’s wildlands, wildlife, and water as an enduring legacy. Our goal is to protect areas that remain intact while striving to restore areas that have been degraded.

Crag Law Center is a nonprofit environmental law center based in Portland, Oregon that supports community efforts to protect and sustain the Pacific Northwest’s natural legacy. Implementing a unique model of legal aid for the environment, Crag balances the scales of justice by offering free and low-cost legal services to people who are working on the ground to protect our environment, climate and communities.

Project will destroy habitat and increase fire hazard

Portland, OR – On November 15th the Forest Service released a draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) proposing sweeping amendments to the Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP). The proposed changes could double – and potentially even triple – logging levels across Pacific Northwest National Forests, remove protections for mature and old-growth forests, and diminish the plan’s foundational focus on wildlife and habitat conservation. 

Conservation groups Oregon Wild, Bird Alliance of Oregon, Cascadia Wildlands, and WildEarth Guardians have developed an analysis of the proposal focusing on the Forest Service’s “Proposed Action.”

“For nearly 30 years, the Northwest Forest Plan has safeguarded our region’s iconic old-growth forests, clean water, and wildlife,” said Steve Pedery, Conservation Director for Oregon Wild. “The Forest Service’s proposed changes threaten to reverse decades of progress at a time when these protections are more critical than ever.”

“The Forest Service recently announced plans to substantially increase logging levels nationwide and the proposed changes to the Northwest Forest Plan are an unfortunate part of that misguided plan,” said Ryan Talbott, Pacific Northwest Conservation Advocate for WildEarth Guardians. “Weakening habitat and species protections in exchange for short-sighted increases in timber production targets is what led to the need for the Northwest Forest Plan in the first place. We should learn from that history, not repeat it.”

Background: A Conservation Landmark at Risk

Adopted in 1994, the NWFP was a groundbreaking response to unsustainable logging practices that decimated old-growth forests and triggered Endangered Species Act (ESA) listings for species like the coho salmon and northern spotted owl. The plan prioritized ecosystem recovery, emphasizing protections for mature (80+ years old) and old-growth forests.

Since its inception, the NWFP has successfully halted large-scale old-growth clearcutting, promoted wildlife recovery, and turned public forests into vital carbon sinks, offsetting climate change. For 30 years, forests, recreation areas, and rivers and streams that provide millions of Northwest residents with clean drinking water supplies have been protected from commercial logging under the plan, including beloved areas in the Willamette, Mount Hood, Olympic, and Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forests.

Now, under the DEIS, the Forest Service has introduced four alternatives, including a Proposed Action (Alternative B), which would:

• Redefine “mature” and “old-growth” forests by raising the age class of what qualifies for protection,  weakening protections for trees up to 120 years old, and providing broad exceptions for logging in centuries-old forests.
• Increase aggressive logging on non-reserve lands
• Allow logging in Late-Successional Reserves (LSRs)—a cornerstone of the NWFP—for purposes beyond old-growth restoration.
• Expand logging in dry forests, targeting over 964,000 acres in just 15 years. This proposed aggressive logging in older, fire-resistant forests are likely to increase the frequency and severity of wildfires in the coming decades.

“Under these changes, hundreds of thousands of acres of mature and old-growth forests would be opened to logging, undermining their ecological and climate benefits,” said John Persell, Staff Attorney with Oregon Wild.

Concerning Increase in Logging

The DEIS projects that timber harvests under Alternatives B and D could exceed one billion board feet annually, more than doubling 2023 logging levels and tripling the most recent 10-year average. These vastly expanded logging levels would occur on fewer acres than initially covered by the 1994 NWFP, magnifying ecological damage and habitat loss.

“The Forest Service seems more focused on boosting timber quotas than on upholding its legal obligation to protect salmon and wildlife, mature and old-growth forests, and clean water,” said Persell.

Encouraging Steps on Tribal Inclusion

Conservation groups applaud positive proposals in the DEIS, particularly efforts to better engage with Native American Tribes through consultation, co-stewardship agreements, and the integration of Traditional Ecological Knowledge and prescribed fire into Forest Service management practices. Provisions to restore culturally significant species such as camas, huckleberries, and beargrass are a step in the right direction.

“These steps toward meaningful Tribal engagement and co-stewardship are commendable and long overdue,” said Pedery. “It is frustrating that the Forest Service has paired these potential improvements with the agency’s plans to weaken protections for wildlife and mature and old-growth forest habitat embedded in the same plan.”

A Call for Public Scrutiny

The Forest Service’s timeline ensures the final decision will be made after the next Presidential administration takes office, raising concerns that the Forest Service proposal, which already contains significant weakening of environmental protections under the NWFP, could be eroded even further.

“Oregonians and all Americans who care about wildlife, clean water, and climate resilience should be deeply concerned,” said Pedery. “Over the coming year, it will be more important than ever to rally vocal support for the protection of mature and old-growth forests and expose the cynicism and recklessness embedded in this Forest Service proposal.”

Photo Credits: David Herasimtschuk. The Siuslaw National Forest.

Project will destroy habitat and increase fire hazard

Medford, Oregon — Today forest conservation organizations filed a legal challenge in Medford federal district court challenging the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) latest old-growth timber sale located in the Cascade foothills east of the community of Sunny Valley, Oregon.

The aptly named “Last Chance” timber sale targets old-growth forests for logging on BLM lands known as Late Successional Reserves, Riparian Reserves, and the Harvest Land Base. Most of the timber sale units would remove the old-growth forest canopy down to less than 30% effectively destroying the existing wildlife habitat while increasing fire hazard throughout the project area.

“The Medford BLM does not care about wildlife, wildfires or watersheds,” said George Sexton, Conservation Director for KS Wild. “They care about only one thing and that is meeting their arbitrary old-growth logging timber targets.”

The Last Chance timber sale authorizes 8,420 acres of logging activities including 1,297 acres of streamside logging in riparian reserves, and the construction of 28 miles of new logging roads.

“Most Oregonians believe that these remaining old-growth forests are worth more standing,” said John Persell, Oregon Wild Staff Attorney. “They are fire-resilient, they are soaking up carbon, and they represent our irreplaceable natural heritage.”

While the Medford BLM’s neighbors in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest have largely moved away from old-growth logging and towards small-diameter fuels reduction, the BLM remains mired in controversy and contention.

“It’s time for the Medford BLM to work with conservation groups to reduce rather than increase fire hazard,” said Nick Cady, Cascadia Wildlands Legal Director. “The BLM’s relentless old-growth logging agenda isn’t doing its neighbors any favors.”

KS Wild, Cascadia Wildlands, and Oregon Wild are represented by Meriel Darzen and Oliver Stiefel of the Crag Law Center.

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Background: On September 19, 2024, Oregon Wild, Cascadia Wildlands, and Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, along with 40 other organizations, sent a letter to the BLM asking that the agency issue guidance on mature and old-growth logging. 

Photo by KS Wild