Author: Arran Robertson

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Conservationists Challenge BLM Clearcut of Endangered Species Habitat

|Arran Robertson|Logging, Old-Growth

Eugene, OR

Contact for more information

John Persell, Staff Attorney, Oregon Wild
Nick Cady, Legal Director, Cascadia Wildlands

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. 

Download the complaint

“This area consists of designated reserves set aside to provide old-forest habitat for imperiled species,” said Nick Cady, Legal Director with Cascadia Wildlands. “But the agency is now proposing to heavily log these areas to meet internally generated timber targets and did not even consider the impacts this logging would have on these species.” 

The BLM’s 2016 Resource Management Plan outlines requirements to protect marbled murrelets and northern spotted owls. Big Weekly Elk ignores these rules, logging and building roads through 55 known marbled murrelet sites and threatening five known northern spotted owl nesting sites. Despite the presence of these vulnerable species, the BLM refused to conduct an analysis of how the logging project would impact murrelets or owls.

“Mature and old-growth forests like those the BLM is proposing to log here are vital, not just for endangered species and clean drinking water, but also for capturing and storing carbon to fight climate change,” said John Persell, Staff Attorney for Oregon Wild. “The BLM needs to do its job, what it is legally required to do, not just blindly log and clearcut our public lands.”

“This area has already been hammered by private and BLM clearcuts. Now they’re going after what’s left, and they’re not going to let anything get in the way, including their own rules.”

The lawsuit asserts the BLM violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to complete a detailed environmental impact statement for Big Weekly Elk, and by failing to take the requisite “hard look” at impacts to endangered species habitat, carbon storage, and a host of other environmental values. The project is surrounded by private lands logging, as well as the BLM’s own Coos Bay Landscape Management Project, which together have already decimated the forest cover in the region, yet the BLM took none of these activities into account in its determination that its logging will have no impact. The areas targeted by the BLM are some of the last intact forest stands in the area.

“This area has already been hammered by private and BLM clearcuts,” said Madeline Cowen, Grassroots and Digital Organizer for Cascadia Wildlands. “Now they’re going after what’s left, and they’re not going to let anything get in the way, including their own rules.”

In proposing to log mature and old-growth forest stands, Big Weekly Elk also contradicts President Biden’s 2022 Executive Order to protect mature and old-growth forests as a natural climate solution. In March, the BLM announced its wide-ranging “Conservation and Landscape Health” rule, with a goal to “promote ecosystem resilience on public lands” and included an acknowledgment of the importance of mature and old-growth trees and forests. The agency concluded a public comment period for proposed rulemaking in July, with hundreds of thousands of people calling on the federal government to protect mature and old-growth trees and forests from logging. 

“Big Weekly Elk includes logging mature and old-growth forests, the very forests that are the most effective tools available for mitigating climate change and promoting biodiversity,” said Victoria Wingell, Forests and Climate Campaigner for Oregon Wild. “They store huge amounts of carbon and keep it out of the atmosphere. As the world experiences record-shattering heat and widespread climate disasters, protecting these forests is critical for preventing the worst impacts of climate change.”

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NASA Maps and Report Highlight Oregon’s Clearcutting Epidemic

|Arran Robertson|Drinking Water, Forests, Logging, State Forests

Today, the NASA DEVELOP Program released an analysis of how much of Oregon’s Coast Range was logged in the past 20 years in drinking watersheds. The maps and analysis show clearcutting across substantial portions of these watersheds.

“The team’s analysis on clearcutting found that 26% of the forested area within the 80 selected watersheds experienced clearcutting between 2000 and 2022,” said the report. “This is equivalent to approximately 584 square miles of land…. or 25 square miles, per year.”

The 584 sq miles of clearcutting in the Coast Range is only the amount in drinking watersheds, it doesn’t factor in the rest of the mountain range. Many of these forests have been clearcut more than once.

“Anyone that has driven through the Coast Range has seen the jarring clearcuts. Now, one of the premier scientific agencies on the planet has demonstrated just how extensive that logging has been,” said Erik Fernandez of Oregon Wild. “Seeing that several watersheds have had over 50% of their drinking watershed logged was of particular concern.” 

The report is the result of a NASA DEVELOP 10-week assessment study co-developed with Oregon Wild.

Download the report

Key statistics from the NASA report

  • Total square miles of logging in drinking watersheds in the Coast Range = 584 
  • Seaside drinking watershed: 58% logged in past 20 years
  • Lincoln City drinking watershed: 34% logged in past 20 years
  • Rockaway Beach: 78% logged in past 20 years

Studies have demonstrated that clearcut logging, as well as the practices that accompany it, like road building and aerial pesticide spraying, increase sediment and other pollutants flowing into streams and drinking water sources. While the recent Private Forest Accord increased no-logging buffers around streams and added some protections for steep slopes, communities remain concerned about the extent of clearcutting in their drinking watersheds and short-term and cumulative impacts of industrial logging. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is responsible under the federal Clean Water Act for protecting water quality.

“Companies are logging a vast landscape–both public and private land–that people depend on for drinking water, treating the forest like a crop rotation instead of the complex and living system that it truly is,” said Casey Kulla, state forest policy coordinator for Oregon Wild. “In the Coast Range, Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality needs to be focused squarely on protecting the quality and quantity of water from these forests. Polluters need to be held accountable for known water quality failures.”

Beyond issues with water quality, clearcut logging has also been shown to decrease the quantity of water available for decades after the logging occurs. When a forest is cut, the roots of the trees begin to break down and the soil no longer stores moisture over time, so water drains out of the clearcut more rapidly, creating high-intensity pulses. The young, growing forests that are planted in the wake of a clearcut take up vast amounts of water, which can leave downstream communities in drought, such as what happened to Yachats in 2015. 

Cities and rural cooperative water associations along the Oregon Coast Range are highly motivated to purchase their drinking watersheds to manage the land primarily for water quality and quantity. Unfortunately, forestland in the Coast and Coast Range remains prohibitively expensive for many communities and state agencies have been slow to respond to the threat of degraded drinking watersheds from logging. In the 2023 legislative session, the Oregon Legislature directed $5 million to community drinking watershed purchases.

“Oregon legislators deserve credit for taking steps that support communities working to protect their drinking water,” said Kulla. “However, more funding is needed for these critical purchases. We hope this analysis from NASA highlights the importance of these investments and that Legislators representing rural communities in the Coast Range and elsewhere will be leaders on this issue in Salem.”

The NASA/Oregon Wild project area primarily encompassed industrial forestlands (owned by Weyerhaeuser, Roseburg Forest Products, Stimson, and others) as well as state, federal, tribal, and municipal/county-owned lands. Private lands logging is typically clearcut logging whereas public lands logging is a mixture of thinning and clearcut logging.

Coast Range residents who want to stay informed about what happens in their drinking watersheds can sign up for the Oregon Department of Forestry’s notification system, FERNS. For a step-by-step tutorial, visit Your Forest Watershed and sign up at the Oregon Department of Forestry’s E-Notification page. 

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Tribes and Fish Advocates Challenge Oregon Salmon Trucking Rule

|Arran Robertson|Rivers, Wildlife

Salem, Ore. (September 5, 2023)

Contact for more information

Miles Johnson, Columbia Riverkeeper
David A. Moskowitz, The Conservation Angler
Steve Pedery, Oregon Wild

In an eleventh-hour rule change without meaningful public or tribal input, Oregon weakened protections for salmon; Tribes and fish advocates want the state to restore safeguards.

The Nez Perce Tribe and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, along with seven fish advocacy groups, have challenged a December 2022 decision by the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) that weakened state-wide protections for migratory fish like salmon, steelhead, and lamprey. Instead of requiring that artificial barriers be upgraded to allow fish to swim freely past them, Oregon’s weakened rules can allow dam operators and others to trap salmon and load them into trucks for transport around dams—a process with much lower survival rates.

“After all the public process and discussions that went into developing the new rules, it’s really disappointing to see ODFW insert a major change at the last minute without consulting Tribes or notifying the public,” said David Moskowitz of The Conservation Angler, who participated in the rule-making that began in 2021. “ODFW’s new rule makes it less likely that effective and proven volitional fish passage will be constructed at dams, culverts, and diversions in Oregon, hindering efforts to recover Oregon’s migratory fish.”

“Healthy fisheries are vital to Tribes, river communities, and Oregon’s culture and economy; they deserve the highest level of protection,” said Miles Johnson, Legal Director for Columbia Riverkeeper. “It’s disappointing to see ODFW weaken those protections without explaining why or asking for public or Tribal input.”  

“Call me a radical, but I believe that salmon and steelhead should swim in our rivers, not be trapped and hauled around in trucks,” said Steve Pedery, Conservation Director with Oregon Wild. “Whoever at ODFW came up with the idea of redefining Oregon’s rules to allow trap-and-haul to substitute for freely swimming salmon should have been laughed out of the room.”

The conservation and fishing groups involved in the legal challenge include Columbia Riverkeeper, The Conservation Angler, Institute for Fisheries Resources, Native Fish Society, Northwest Environmental Defense Center, Oregon Wild, and the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations. They are represented by the non-profit Crag Law Center.

Additional Resources (available on request to Miles Johnson, miles@columbiariverkeeper.org): 

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Judge rules Forest Service violated the law in rolling back forest protections

|Arran Robertson|Eastern Oregon, Logging, Old-Growth

August 31, 2023, Pendleton, OREGON

Contact for more information

Oregon Wild
Rob Klavins, Northeast Oregon Field Coordinator
rk@oregonwild.org
(541) 886-0212

Crag Law Center
Meriel Darzen, Staff Attorney 
(503) 525 – 2725 
meriel@crag.org

Central Oregon LandWatch
Rory Isbell, Staff Attorney, Rural Lands Program Manager
rory@colw.org
(541) 647-2930 ext.804

Greater Hells Canyon Council
Emily Cain, Executive Director
emily@hellscanyon.org
(541) 963-3950

Sierra Club
Mathieu Federspiel, Executive Committee
Juniper Group, Oregon Chapter Sierra Club
mathieuf.sc@gmail.com

WildEarth Guardians
Chris Krupp, Public Lands Attorney
ckrupp@wildearthguardians.org
(206) 417-6363

Today, a federal judge made a sweeping recommendation to set aside an illegal Forest Service rule change made under the Trump administration. Conservation groups, with support from the Nez Perce Tribe, challenged a change to the Eastside Screens, a longstanding set of rules to protect old growth on six national forests in Eastern Oregon and Washington. 

The Screens protected trees over 21” in diameter on over 7 million acres of public lands. These represent the largest 3% of trees in the region. Just days before President Biden took office, a political appointee of the Trump administration illegally changed the rule and allowed those trees to be logged. The Forest Service was joined by the timber industry in defending the change.

A U.S. Magistrate Judge in Pendleton, Oregon, found that the Forest Service should be required to prepare a full environmental impact statement: “The highly uncertain effects of this project, when considered in light of its massive scope and setting, raise substantial questions about whether this project will have a significant effect” on the environment, including endangered aquatic species.

Jamie Dawson of Greater Hells Canyon Council was pleased with the result but stated,

“It’s a shame that we needed a court to tell the Forest Service that they must follow the bedrock environmental laws that have been in place for decades. Completing a full public process and taking a hard look at the environmental impacts of their actions is the least they should be doing, especially when considering such an impactful decision.”

The Eastside Screens were initially put in place by the Forest Service to protect remaining habitat for old-growth-dependent wildlife; certain species were in rapid decline after decades of logging of the biggest trees in Eastern Oregon and Washington. For almost 30 years, the Screens reined in the removal of large trees and prevented unnecessary conflict on many logging projects.
 
The amendment was criticized for being a politically-motivated action that circumvented public and tribal involvement and ignored an established and growing body of science that contradicts the decision. More than 100 independent scientists joined dozens of conservation, climate, indigenous, and public health groups in opposing the rule change.

The court recommended that the plaintiff groups prevail on all three of their claims, finding that the Forest Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Forest Management Act, and the Endangered Species Act, and recommended that Forest Service’s decision be vacated and the Service be required to prepare a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

“We’re pleased with the Court’s decision to invalidate the Forest Service’s misguided choice to remove protections for large trees on our public lands,” said Rory Isbell from Central Oregon LandWatch. “Today’s decision solidifies the value of large trees for our forests, wildlife, freshwater, and climate. We look forward to seeing these trees safeguarded well into the future.”

A recent scientific study found that the biggest and oldest trees covered by the rule make up only 3% of regional forests in the Pacific Northwest yet store 42% of forest carbon. Those trees also provide critical habitat for wildlife, keep water clean and cold, are resilient to wildfire, and are at the core of cultural values.

“The Sierra Club has long stood with our nation’s trees and forests, protecting these resources for our health and well being, as well as for that of future generations. We are encouraged that the court has sided with our case to protect the largest trees of our Eastside forests. We cannot stop here, but will continue to enlighten and encourage all people to experience the peace and awe of large trees and complex ecosystems, and use our legal system when we have to,” said Mathieu Federspiel of the Juniper Group Sierra Club.

In addition, on April 22, 2022, President Biden issued Executive Order 14072 on Strengthening the Nation’s Forests, Communities, and Local Economies, which directs the Forest Service to conserve America’s mature and old-growth forests as a part of a science-based approach to reduce wildfire risk and combat the climate and biodiversity crises.

“The Forest Service rushed through a politically motivated rule change to log the most ecologically important trees left on our landscape. Sadly, this is in line with their well-earned reputation for putting logging before the need to address the climate and biodiversity crises,” said Chris Krupp of WildEarth Guardians.

Rob Klavins, an advocate for Oregon Wild based in rural Wallowa County is looking forward, saying

“We hope the Forest Service will take this decision to heart. As they go back to the drawing board, we expect them to meaningfully involve all members of the public to create a durable solution. That includes Tribes, local conservationists, and independent scientists who were all deliberately marginalized in the first process. We call on the Biden administration to stop defending this illegal Trump rule change, and we encourage Senators Wyden and Merkley to empower all stakeholders in a process that will reduce conflict and ensure better outcomes in the future.”

That sentiment was echoed by Amy Stuart, a fish biologist and spokesperson for the Great Old Broads for WIlderness

“We stand ready to move forward with all parties, and the Forest Service to achieve a durable solution.”

Greater Hells Canyon Council, Oregon Wild, Central Oregon LandWatch, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, WildEarth Guardians, and the Sierra Club are represented by attorneys Meriel Darzen and Oliver Stiefel from the nonprofit Crag Law Center. 

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Over half a million people call on Forest Service to protect mature, old-growth forests and trees

|Arran Robertson|Logging, Old-Growth

Eugene, OR

Contact for more information

Victoria Wingell, Forests and Climate Campaigner
Oregon Wild: vw@oregonwild.org
 
John Persell, Staff Attorney
Oregon Wild: jp@oregonwild.org 
 
Madeline Cowen, Grassroots Organizer
Cascadia Wildlands: madeline@cascwild.org
 
Ryan Talbott, Pacific Northwest Conservation Advocate
WildEarth Guardians: rtalbott@wildearthguardians.org 

Public comment period concludes for pathway to rulemaking on how Forest Service manages national forests.

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 that 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.

In April, the Forest Service issued a rulemaking proposal to improve the climate resilience of federally managed forests. The public comment period on the proposal closed today.

“Hundreds of thousands of people from every age group and every corner of the country weighed in to urge President Biden to enact a clear rule protecting mature and old growth forests from the Forest Service chopping block,” said Victoria Wingell, Forest and Climate Campaigner for Oregon Wild. “Public support has never been higher for bold, effective solutions to keep carbon in the forests and out of the atmosphere.”

In addition to the hundreds of thousands of people who weighed in, dozens of environmental and grassroots organizations submitted comments, including the Climate Forests Campaign, a coalition of more than 120 organizations working to protect mature and old-growth trees and forests on federal land from logging.

“It’s clear that the public wants old-growth and mature forests and trees to be protected,” said Madeline Cowen, Grassroots Organizer at Cascadia Wildlands. “These critical forests store carbon.  They protect imperiled species.  They safeguard key waterways.  It’s well past time for the federal land managers to adopt a rule that provides durable protections for our forests, and recognizes them for what they are: a natural climate solution and a key ally in the fight for a livable future.”

Activists and environmental advocates gathered today to celebrate the amount of public support. At 11:00 a.m. on Thursday at the federal courthouse in Eugene, attorneys for Climate Forests Campaign members Oregon Wild and WildEarth Guardians presented oral argument in a lawsuit against the Forest Service. Oregon Wild and WildEarth Guardians have challenged the Forest Service’s unlawful authorization of commercial logging on the Fremont-Winema National Forest without proper environmental analysis. The agency authorized 29,000 acres of commercial logging, including the 16,000-acre South Warner Project, using a “categorical exclusion” to avoid detailed environmental review and public involvement. 

“The South Warner Project includes commercial logging of large, old trees under the guise of “timber stand and wildlife habitat improvement,” said John Persell, Staff Attorney at Oregon Wild.  “It is yet another example of why a national rule protecting mature and old-growth forest stands is needed to address the climate and biodiversity crises.”

Earlier this month, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) concluded a public comment period for its own proposed rulemaking, with hundreds of thousands of people calling on the federal government to protect mature and old-growth trees and forests from logging. In March, the BLM announced its wide-ranging “Conservation and Landscape Health” rule, with a goal to “promote ecosystem resilience on public lands” and included an acknowledgment of the importance of mature and old-growth trees and forests. 

In addition to the two proposed rules, the Forest Service and the BLM released an inventory of mature and old-growth forests, the first of its kind, as required by the executive order President Biden signed on Earth Day 2022. The White House directed the Forest Service and the BLM to inventory and conserve mature and old-growth forests on federal land, and to implement policies to address threats facing forests.

The Climate Forests Campaign has been elevating calls from community members, scientists, and activists around the country about the necessity of protecting these mature and old-growth trees and forests, including from the ongoing threat of logging. The coalition has highlighted the threat to mature and old-growth forests and trees in two reports, citing 22 of the worst logging projects on Forest Service and BLM-managed forests.

Mature and old-growth forests are some of the most effective tools available for mitigating climate change and promoting biodiversity. They store huge amounts of carbon and keep it out of the atmosphere. They also provide essential wildlife habitat and are the most fire-resilient trees in the forest. As the world experiences record-shattering heat and widespread climate disasters, protecting these forests is critical for preventing the worst impacts of climate change.

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Court affirms expanded Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument

|Arran Robertson|Public Lands

Washington, D.C.

Contact for more information

Doug Heiken, Oregon Wild
Kristen Boyles, Earthjustice
Susan Jane Brown, Silvix Resources
Dave Willis, Soda Mountain Wilderness Council
Joseph Vaile, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center

Second federal appeals court protects Monument and the rare and beautiful plant and animal species that live there.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals today affirmed the legality of an expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument made by President Obama in 2017, reversing a lower court decision that threw the Monument’s boundaries into doubt. 

Download the opinion

This federal court ruling joins a victorious ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in April that also declared the monument expansion lawful. 

“This lawsuit attempted to rob Oregonians and all Americans of a biological treasure that deserves permanent protection,” said Kristen Boyles, attorney with Earthjustice. “Appeals courts in DC and Seattle have now upheld Monument expansion, rejecting every single one of the timber industry’s arguments.”

The Monument was first designated in 2000 under the Antiquities Act as an ecological wonder known for its incredible diversity of species. The court decision today again confirms protection of these special federal lands and is a major victory for the Monument and the spectacular variety of plants, fish, and wildlife that depend on the Monument’s ecological integrity.

In upholding the Monument expansion and its protections, the appellate court in DC found that “The goal of the O&C Act, then, was to ‘provide conservation and scientific management for this vast Federal property…’ and the Monument’s expansion is itself consistent with sustained yield forestry.”

“The Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument is a great gift to present and future generations,” said Dave Willis, Soda Mountain Wilderness Council chair and long-time Monument advocate. “We’re very glad this unanimous Court saw fit to not let logging companies take any of this gift away.”

Monument supporters, ranging from local residents and conservation groups to elected officials, business owners, scientists, botanists and hunters and anglers, have fought for decades to protect this special area straddling southwest Oregon and northwest California that is known worldwide for its remarkable biodiversity.

“Western Oregon BLM lands provide clean drinking water, wildlife habitat, and countless opportunities for recreation,” said Joseph Vaile, Climate Director with Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center. “This decision ensures that these public lands are managed for their many social and environmental values, including the phenomenal Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument.”

“Once again, courts have rejected the logging industry’s abhorrent theory that BLM lands cannot be conserved,” said Doug Heiken, Conservation and Restoration Coordinator with Oregon Wild. “These are public lands, managed for more than just logging. Special places like the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument and our mature and old-growth forests deserve to be safeguarded for fish and wildlife, clean drinking water, recreation, carbon, and other important values.”

The legal arguments in these cases hinged on whether a 1937 law, the Oregon and California Lands (O&C) Act, committed approximately 40,000 acres of the monument expansion to commercial logging, making those lands ineligible for inclusion in a monument.

The D.C. Circuit today rejected the industry’s arguments and affirmed that the President acted within his authority under the Antiquities Act when he expanded the national monument.

“This opinion cements the interpretation that the O&C Act provides BLM with authority to manage the O&C lands for many uses, including conservation and recreation,” said Susan Jane Brown, attorney with Silvix Resources.

Earthjustice attorneys Ashley Bennett and Kristen Boyles and Silvix Resources attorney Susan Jane Brown represented Soda Mountain Wilderness Council, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, and Oregon Wild in defense of the Monument’s expansion.

Background

Originally designated in 2000 by President Clinton and then expanded in 2017 by President Obama, Cascade-Siskiyou is the first and only national monument established specifically to protect biological diversity.

The Monument includes four distinct ecoregions that include a wide range of topography, climate, and geology, and is widely recognized as one of the most biologically diverse places in North America. It is an important ecological link for migration, genetic dispersal, and the process of evolution in the Pacific Northwest.

President Obama expanded the Monument in 2017 based on recommendations from a large group of scientists and strong support from local residents, tribes, conservationists, local business leaders, hunters, anglers, a large group of local, state, and federal elected officials, and others.

The expanded National Monument consists of approximately 114,000 acres of forest, meadow, and oak grasslands at the junction of the Cascade Range and the Siskiyou Mountains spanning southwestern Oregon and northwestern California.

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349,000 comments to Bureau of Land Management asking for forest protections

|Arran Robertson|Climate, Old-Growth, Oregon Wild
Flat Country Timber Sale by David Herasimtschuk

Portland

In response to a public comment period on a proposed Conservation and Landscape Health rule, more than 349,000 members of the public and supporters of environmental advocacy groups, including Oregon Wild, called on the Bureau of Land Management to protect mature and old-growth trees and forests managed by the agency. 

“Older forests in Oregon are a huge part of what makes this state so special,” said Victoria Wingell, Forests and Climate Campaigner for Oregon Wild. “The benefits to recreation, the climate, clean air and water, and wildlife are enormous. It’s appropriate that so many weighed in to call for protecting our forests. Now it’s up to the Bureau of Land Management, and the Biden administration, to act accordingly.”

On Earth Day 2022, President Joe Biden issued an executive order calling on the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to inventory and conserve mature and old growth forests on federal land. The BLM’s rulemaking, which includes a request for feedback on how the “BLM [might] use this rule to foster ecosystem resilience of old and mature forests on BLM lands” is a step forward in implementing the president’s directives on forest conservation.

Dozens of organizations, many of which are members of the Climate Forests Campaign submitted comments. In addition, social media viewers who learned about the issue through grassroots efforts on TikTok and Instagram submitted more than 160,000 comments.

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Oregon Wild Submits Objection to the Youngs Rock Rigdon Project

|Arran Robertson|Forests, Logging

Oregon Wild has elected to file an objection to the draft Record of Decision for the Youngs Rock Rigdon (YRR) Project on the Willamette National Forest because it will sacrifice more than 1,000 acres of mature and old-growth forest, including northern spotted owl suitable habitat and critical habitat; it will increase global warming by causing significant carbon emissions from logging; and it will replace mature forests that are relatively resilient to wildfire with low-density forests and shrub fields that are expensive to maintain and pose an increased fuel hazard. We hope our objection can help the Forest Service make a balanced and informed final decision on the project.

The Forest Service’s primary goal with this project is to restore dry Ponderosa pine/White oak savanna similar to the Jim’s Creek Project previously approved in the same area. That project resulted in a significant blowdown event killing several hundred old-growth pine trees that the project intended to save, as well as significantly spread weeds where native wildflowers were intended to thrive. The Jim’s Creek Project was 450 acres. The Youngs Rock Rigdon Project is five times larger.

The YRR Project is located in the upper Middle Fork Watershed above Hill Creek Reservoir. The area harbors a mix of moist and dry forests, including surviving remnants of a rare pine/oak savanna ecosystem that was likely maintained by frequent native burning. For more than 100 years, the Forest Service failed to allow the pattern of cultural burning that maintained these unique forests, so the forest quite predictably grew into relatively dense mature and old-growth stands that now provide important habitat for spotted owls and help to make the Willamette NF among the largest stores of carbon in the entire National Forest System. The Forest Service wants to bring back that pine/oak savanna, but they are taking a nugget of a good idea way too far. 

The YRR Project is a large logging project that will commercially log 2,608 acres, including 1,419 acres of mature natural stands, and 531 acres of clearcutting in managed stands. Almost 1,000 acres will be logged with ground-based heavy equipment that can damage soils and spread weeds. Logging will occur in critical habitat for the Threatened northern spotted owl, as well as in riparian reserves, Special Interest Areas, and likely occupied but unsurveyed habitat for red tree voles. The YRR Project will produce 63 million board feet of logs, enough to fill 12,600 log trucks. Ten miles of new roads will be built, but the Forest Service does not disclose where they will be built. Logging and roads will affect ESA-listed species, including northern spotted owls, Chinook salmon, and bull trout. 2,799 acres of suitable spotted owl nesting, roosting, and foraging habitat would be removed (not maintained; not degraded; removed) by heavy logging to create savannas and clearcutting in managed stands. About half of the suitable habitat removal is within spotted owl critical habitat. The project also includes road maintenance, floodplain restoration, meadow restoration, recreation enhancements, and fuel reduction.

There are many aspects of this project that Oregon Wild supports, including floodplain restoration, meadow restoration, variable thinning of young plantations, recreation enhancements, road decommissioning, road storage, and some of the fuel reduction activities that focus on prescribed fire and removing small fuels near roads. Unfortunately, all this good work is overshadowed by unnecessarily aggressive logging of 1,400 acres of native forests, clearcutting of 500 acres of plantations, and 10 miles of new road construction.

Oregon Wild also supports the goal of restoring dry pine and oak sites, but we feel that this can be accomplished in more limited areas that clearly exhibit significant components of the historic pine/oak community. A modified approach that protects more of the existing mature and old-growth forests would serve several important purposes:

  • First, it will help mitigate global climate change by keeping much more carbon in the forest and out of the atmosphere.
  • Second, it will help spotted owls survive the current shortage of habitat caused by decades of unsustainable logging of old growth on the Willamette National Forest, and help spotted owls coexist with invading barred owls that currently occupy and defend much of the available suitable owl habitat.
  • Third, it will retain mature forests with thick bark, high canopies, and favorable microclimates that are shown to be more resistant and resilient to wildfire.

Conserving more mature and old-growth forest will advance the goals of President Biden’s April 2022 Executive Order calling for the protection of mature and old-growth forests to meet the twin goals of biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation.

Oregon Wild’s objection reiterates comments and concerns raised earlier in the public process. It urges the Forest Service to explore options and find a better balance between pine/oak enhancement on the one hand, and old growth conservation, spotted owl recovery, wildfire resilience, and carbon storage on the other. These goals are somewhat in conflict, because pine/oak restoration requires reducing tree density, while conservation of old growth, spotted owls, and carbon requires retaining more trees. The Forest Service has chosen to aggressively emphasize one set of values while sacrificing the others. The Forest Service can and should do the right thing and harmonize high-priority restoration actions without unnecessarily sacrificing other important goals. 

Oregon Wild has been raising these same concerns since at least 2006 when we commented on the Jim’s Creek Project: “The FS should attempt to objectively balance the benefits of natural savanna restoration and the adverse impacts of treatment, primarily loss of late seral habitat.”

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Eugene Earth Day rally calls for forest protection, Biden to keep promises

|Arran Robertson|Climate, Logging, Old-Growth

Hundreds of activists join together in Eugene to call for mature and old-growth forest protection.

Eugene, OR

Contact for more information

Victoria Wingell, Oregon Wild, (503) 847-9505, vw@oregonwild.org
Steve Pedery, Oregon Wild, 503-998-8411 sp@oregonwild.org 
Madeline Cowen, Cascadia Wildlands, 206-653-4959 madeline@cascwild.org 
Patty Hine, 350 Eugene, (458) 209-6295 president@350eugene.org

Over 200 concerned community members gathered 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 these 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.

“We are fortunate to have the commitment of the Biden Administration to protect our forests, but as a mayor committed to climate, I recognize the urgency of the moment,” said Eugene Mayor Lucy Vinis. “Trees are threatened from logging in our state and across the nation. We know that retaining and protecting theses forests is a key step to addressing climate change.” 

Just shy of the one-year anniversary of President Biden’s executive order directing the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to define, inventory, and protect the nation’s mature and old-growth federal forests, the agencies on Thursday released a new inventory and map of these forests, as well as a notice of proposed rulemaking. The rulemaking process will include a public comment period to gather input from Americans on mature and old-growth protections, and what policies the agencies should adopt to protect them. Activists say this a welcomed first step towards permanent protections for the trees and forests most critical to fighting climate change, but worry some of these areas could be logged before a new rule is adopted unless swift action is taken. 

Victoria Wingell, Forest and Climate Campaigner at Oregon Wild said, “Thousands of acres of mature and old-growth forests across the state are still threatened by logging right now, despite the White House’s steps to protect them. If we are to have a fighting chance at combating the climate crisis we are all facing, we need the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to take the magnitude of this threat seriously and withdraw these egregious timber sales. It’s clear that we need this new national rule now more than ever.” These projects include the Ragged Ruby project in the Malheur National Forest and multiple BLM projects: Evans Creek, 42 Divide, and IVM.

“As we celebrate yet another Earth Day characterized by compounding biodiversity and climate crises, we ask federal agencies to permanently protect mature and old-growth forests as one of our most powerful natural climate solutions,” said Madeline Cowen, grassroots organizer with Cascadia Wildlands. “Older forests filter our drinking water, remove climate pollution from the air we breathe, and increase our resilience to uncharacteristically severe wildfires. These forests are worth far more standing.”

“In the Pacific Northwest, mature and old-growth forests are our first line of defense against climate change,” said Steve Pedery, Conservation Director at Oregon Wild. “Keeping these trees standing means they can continue to capture and store the pollution that causes climate change, provide future generations with clean water to drink, and protect vital habitat for fish and wildlife.”

This Earth Day rally follows the withdrawal of the Flat Country timber sale last year, after activists across the region organized in opposition. The Flat Country sale would have logged 1,000 acres of trees 98-170 years old and had been previously identified by the Climate Forests Campaign, a coalition of more than 120 organizations working to protect mature and old-growth trees and forests on federal land,  as one of the most egregious examples of mature and old-growth logging projects planned in the United States. The coalition’s report highlighted 21 additional mature and old-growth logging projects on Forest Service and BLM-managed forests currently expected to move forward.

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Forest Service takes key step toward first national rule to protect mature, old-growth trees, forests

|Arran Robertson|Climate, Old-Growth

Announcement advances Biden’s 2022 Earth Day Executive Order

Washington, DC

Contact for more information

Randi Spivak, Center for Biological Diversity, (310) 779-4894, rspivak@biologicaldiversity.org 
Jackson Chiappinelli, Earthjustice, (585) 402-2005, jchiappinelli@earthjustice.org 
Ellen Montgomery, Public Lands Campaign Director, Environment America, (720) 583-4024, emontgomery@environmentamerica.org 
Josh Mogerman, NRDC, (773)-531-5359, jmogerman@nrdc.org 
Ian Brickey, Senior Press Secretary, Our Wild America, Sierra Club, (314)-238-6766, ian.brickey@sierraclub.org 
Zack Porter, Executive Director, Standing Trees, (617)-872-5352, zporter@standingtrees.org 
Adam Rissien, ReWilding Manager, WildEarth Guardians, (406)-370-3147, arissien@wildearthguardians.org

According to reports, the U.S. Forest Service announced Thursday a pathway for protecting mature and old-growth trees and forests as part of a strategy to improve the climate resilience of federally managed forests. The agency is pursuing a rulemaking process, which will involve a public comment period to gather input on new policies the agency can adopt. 

Additionally as reported by the Washington Post, the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management released an inventory of mature and old-growth forests, the first of its kind, as required by President Biden’s Executive Order, 14072. Mature and old-growth forests are essential for watershed health, provide critical wildlife habitat, are generally more resilient to wildfire and are an important natural climate solution, absorbing and storing tons of carbon.

Members of the Climate Forests Campaign, a coalition of more than 120 organizations working to protect mature and old-growth trees and forests on federal land, praised these announcements as a significant step forward.

The coalition has been elevating calls from community members, scientists and activists around the country about the necessity of protecting these trees and forests, including from the ongoing threat of logging. 

The coalition highlighted the threat to mature and old-growth forests and trees in two reports, citing 22 logging projects on Forest Service and BLM-managed forests. The Forest Service has withdrawn one of those projects, the Flat Country project in the Willamette National Forest in Oregon. 

Coalition members issued the following statements:

“This is hopeful news for our country’s magnificent old trees, our climate and the wildlife that depend on these critical ecosystems. The new rule can’t come soon enough,” said Randi Spivak, Public Lands Policy Director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The Forest Service routinely targets mature and old-growth trees for logging. I hope this announcement signals desperately needed change at the agency, including meaningful protections while these rules are written. The Forest Service has the power right now to step in and save hundreds of thousands of acres it’s put on the chopping block.”

“It’s extremely encouraging that the Biden administration is recognizing the value of mature and old-growth trees with this inventory and advance notice of proposed rulemaking,” said Blaine Miller-McFeeley, Senior Legislative Representative at Earthjustice. “Protecting them is one of our most important and cost-effective natural climate solutions. This is a significant step closer to a rulemaking that will protect and restore climate forests for future generations from the threats they face today, including unnecessary logging.”

“This is potentially big news for big trees. Using this inventory and other new tools, the Forest Service will be able to develop more strategic policies to protect these priceless forests from logging and other threats” said Ellen Montgomery, Public Lands Campaign Director with Environment America. “We’re excited that the Forest Service is taking the next step by planning for a rule. We encourage the public to participate in the upcoming comment period to let the Biden administration know how important our mature and old growth trees and forests are.”

“Mature forests and trees are among the most potent tools we have to fight climate change. And, as the agency’s groundbreaking inventorying effort clearly shows, federal lands remain a key stronghold” said Garett Rose, Senior Attorney at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council). “But time is not on our side. Following today’s welcome announcement, the Forest Service must promptly pursue robust regulatory protections for these essential forests and trees, including from the one threat wholly under agency control: logging.”

“Old growth and mature trees and forests have stood for every Earth Day since 1970, and it is critical that they stand for many more to come.” said Alex Craven, Forest Campaign Representative with Sierra Club. “Protecting these trees and forests must be a top priority for federal land managers, and it is important that they have the best tools to guide their conservation work – this map can be just that. Our oldest trees and forests are critical in the effort to take on climate change and the biodiversity crisis, and the Biden Administration must finish the job they started a year ago and make sure USDA rules support those efforts.”

“The Biden Administration and U.S. Forest Service took an important step forward today by acknowledging and mapping the immense and unique value of mature and old-growth forests on federal public lands” said Zack Porter, Executive Director with Standing Trees. “The question now is: how quickly and decisively will the Forest Service act to protect these essential reservoirs of carbon, clean water, and biodiversity? With proposals like the Telephone Gap logging project looming on the horizon, time is of the essence to protect our nation’s mature forests.”

“Today’s announcement clearly demonstrates the importance of mature and old growth forests as part of a broad climate crisis solution,” said Adam Rissien, ReWilding Manager with WildEarth Guardians. “Now we need a robust, federal rule to prevent these trees from being cut down, and we will continue to remind the administration that logging remains a primary threat to these forests.” 

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2022 Wolf Report Reveals Another Year of Stagnant Growth

|Arran Robertson|Wildlife, Wolves

Today, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife released its 2022 Annual Wolf Report. The report shows another year of stalled wolf recovery, driven in large part by a poaching epidemic. Of the 20 mortalities documented in 2022, 17 of them were known to be human-caused. The only reason the population grew at all is because the declines under state management were offset by wolves finding refuge in portions of the state where they still have federal protections. 

“Every year a significant portion of Oregon’s wolves are killed by people,” said Danielle Moser, Wildlife Program Manager for Oregon Wild. “ODFW rubber stamps about half of those and the other half are killed by people who have no respect for the law or for the animals we share this planet with. As ODFW looks to the next iteration of the wolf plan, it is clear that the last thing Oregon’s wolves need is more killing.” 

Some people are advocating for trophy wolf hunting. They should look at this report and be sobered at how far ODFW is falling short of its wolf recovery goals.

Updates by the numbers:

  • Population: 178. Only up from 175
  • Breeding pairs: 17. Up from 16 in 2021
  • Total mortality: 20 (17 human-caused)
  • Known Poaching: 7
  • ODFW killed: 6
  • Other mortality: 2 killed by vehicles. 2 shot by individuals, 1 killed by a cougar
  • Population Growth Rates since state delisting: 2022 (under 2%) 2021 (under 2%), 2020 (9.5%), 2019 (15%), 2018 (10%), 2017 (11%), 2016 (2%)

Background

A federal district court struck down a 2020 decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in February that removed federal protections from gray wolves across much of the U.S. In Oregon, that ruling only covered wolves west of Highway 395. Wolves east of Highway 395 lack federal protections and state Endangered Species Protections since the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Commission removed them in 2015 and the Oregon legislature blocked judicial and scientific review of that decision.

 According to numerous studies:

  • Attitudes to wolves became more negative or did not improve when protections for wolves were reduced
  • Poaching was higher when wolf protections were reduced, measured by individual survival rates 
  • Poaching was higher when wolf protections were reduced, measured by wolf population dynamics 
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Department of Interior moves to protect mature and old-growth trees and forests from logging

|Arran Robertson|Climate, Old-Growth

Washington, DC

Contact for more information

Ellen Montgomery, Environment America Research & Policy Center, 720-583-4024
Kari Birdseye, Natural Resources Defense Council, 415-350-7562
Steve Pedery, Conservation Director, Oregon Wild, 503-998-8411
Ian Brickey, Sierra Club
Zack Porter, Executive Director, Standing Trees, 802-552-0160
Adam Rissien, ReWilding Manager, WildEarth Guardians, 406-370-3147

The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) announced Thursday a wide-ranging conservation rule with a goal to “promote ecosystem resilience on public lands” and which includes an acknowledgment of the importance of mature and old-growth trees and forests. The DOI will launch a 75-day public comment period during which members of the public will weigh on forest protection and other policies being considered. Members of the Climate Forests Campaign, a coalition of more than 120 organizations working to protect mature and old-growth trees and forests on federal land from the threat of logging, praised this welcome recognition by DOI, and further called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to adopt rules that protect mature and old growth trees and forests as part of its work to restore U.S Forest Service lands and safeguard communities from fire.

Thursday’s announcements come nearly a year after President Biden issued an executive order acknowledging the critical roles that forests play in fighting climate change and protecting wildlife habitat and directing the DOI and USDA to “develop policies, with robust opportunity for public comment, to institutionalize climate-smart management and conservation strategies that address threats to mature and old-growth forests on Federal lands.” 

Over 63 million acres of mature and old-growth forests safeguard carbon, clean water, and biodiversity across all federal public lands, including over 5 million acres managed by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and over 53 million acres managed by the U.S. Forest Service in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Of these, some 50 million acres are at risk from logging. The DOI’s announcement would begin a rulemaking process for forests managed by the BLM.

The Climate Forests Campaign has been working to raise awareness about the necessity of protecting these trees and forests from logging highlighting 22 logging projects targeting mature and old-growth trees in Forest Service and BLM forests. Yet, only one of those projects, Flat Country  in the Willamette National Forest, has been withdrawn because it was incongruous with the Biden administration’s policies regarding protecting trees that are important for fighting climate change.

In response to the agencies’ announcements, advocates issued the following statements:

“This is a much welcomed, necessary step in the right direction for protecting mature and old-growth forests,” said Blaine Miller-McFeeley, senior legislative representative at Earthjustice. “President Biden made clear last Earth Day that he wants to incorporate the conservation of these vital trees as a part of the climate solution. We encourage the U.S. Forest Service to follow the lead of the Bureau of Land Management in progressing that vision.”

“These agencies face many challenges when it comes to protecting mature and old-growth forests on federal lands and they have enormous sway over whether logging takes down our mature forests,” said Environment America Research & Policy Center’s Public Lands Campaign Director, Ellen Montgomery. “Americans love our forests and want to see our oldest trees growing tall for decades and centuries to come. We’ll urge people to make these views known through the upcoming public comment process.”

“BLM manages some of America’s most climate-critical mature forests and trees,” said Garett Rose, Senior Attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). “Logging them releases carbon, destroys habitat, and undermines recreational opportunities.  Following today’s welcome announcement, the Agency must ensure that the final regulation includes robust protection for these magnificent forests and trees.”

“Recognizing the importance of mature and old-growth forests as a natural climate solution is a huge step forward for the Bureau of Land Management,” said Oregon Wild’s Conservation Director, Steve Pedery. “Now all eyes are on Secretary Haaland to see meaningful protections established that preserve these giants from logging and ensure they remain standing for generations to come.”

“The Department of the Interior manages some of the most important landscapes and ecosystems in the country, including portions of our last mature and old-growth forests,” said Alex Craven, Senior Campaign Representative with Sierra Club. “Today’s announcement shows important leadership from Secretary Haaland, and we look forward to working with the department to make sure it delivers long-awaited protections to these vital and precious forests.”

“We commend the US Department of Interior for taking an important step in the right direction for the protection of the Bureau of Land Management’s mature and old-growth forests,” said Zack Porter, Executive Director of Standing Trees, which advocates on behalf of New England’s public lands. “Now that the BLM is leading the way forward, we expect the U.S. Forest Service to quickly follow suit so that all mature and old-growth forests on federal public lands can be protected for the benefit of future generations, as directed by President Biden in his executive order from Earth Day 2022.”

“The BLM and President Biden recognize the crucial role mature and old-growth forests have in helping address the climate crisis, and we remain hopeful the government will safeguard them from harmful logging operations,” said Adam Rissien, WildEarth Guardians’ ReWilding Manager. “Halting the logging of older, fire-resistant trees is an immediate step the agency can take to stop exacerbating the many natural threats forest face under a changing climate.”  

“BLM older forests are some of the most carbon dense on the planet that are essential to the Biden administration’s nature-based climate strategy. They should be protected from all forms of logging as part of BLM’s overall stewardship responsibilities and in compliance with the president’s executive orders to inventory older forests for conservation purposes and to protect 30% of the nation’s lands and waters by 2030” said Dominick A. DellaSala, Ph. D, Chief Scientist, Wild Heritage, Oregon.

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