BREAKING NEWS: JUDGE RULES FOREST SERVICE VIOLATED THE LAW. RECOMMENDS RESTORING PROTECTIONS:

• Press release: Judge rules Forest Service violated the law in rolling back forest protections
• NPR: Judge: Trump-era rule change allowing the logging of old-growth forests violates laws
   

• FAQ's:
  • Summary FAQ
  • Comprehensive FAQ
• Additional Resources:
  • Science
  • Conservation Advocacy
  • Tribal Comments
  • Presentations
  • Media
  • Blogs, other

     

• Science:
  • Large Trees: Oregon's Bio-cultural Legacy Essential to Wildlife, Clean Water, and Carbon Storage
    • Comprehensive report highlights the importance of large trees leads to management recommendations very different from the new Trump Screens amendment. 
  • Frontiers in Global Climate Change: Large Trees Dominate Carbon Storage in Forests East of the Cascade Crest in the United States Pacific Northwest
    • Research shows large trees in Eastern Oregon are disproportionately important in storing carbon.
  • Society for Conservation Biology: Protect large trees for climate mitigation, biodiversity, and forest resilience
    • _{Independent analysis shows the Forest Service's own data undermines its fundamental justification for the rule change.}
  • Nature: Strategic Forest Reserves can protect biodiversity in the western United States and mitigate climate change
    • Scientists concerned about the climate and biodiversity crises make the case for protecting large and old trees across the west.
  • Forest Ecology & Management: Quantifying regional trends in large live tree and snag availability in support of forest management
    • More research calls into question the long-term impacts of large tree logging in Eastern Oregon.
  • Report to Congress: Interim Protection for Late-Successional Forests, Fisheries and Watersheds (full paper here)
    • The scientific report that led to large tree protections in Eastern Oregon recommended far more comprehensive and stringent protections.

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• Conservation Advocacy:
  • Open Letter to The Forest Service on the Importance of Large, Old Trees and Forests
    • 115 independent scientists sign a letter calling the USFS proposal to amend large tree protections "misguided".
  • Leadership concerns
    • The former Deputy Chief of the US Forest Service raises serious concerns about the process, policy, and substance of the effort to undermine the Eastside Screens.
  • Protect Big Trees
    • Central Oregon Advocates led by Central Oregon LandWatch developed a briefing paper on the Trump Screens.
  • Conservation Comments
    • 25 conservation organizations provide comments to the USFS on the Screens amendment process.
  • Don't adopt Trump Screens
    • 33 organizations including conservation, indigenous, public health, and climate groups call on the incoming Biden administration to stop the process of adopting the Trump Screens. Hours later, a Trump appointee signed a decision taking that authority away from the Forest Service.
  • Local Groups: Withdraw Trump Screens
    • Conservation groups actively working in Eastern Oregon formally ask the Biden Administration to withdraw the Trump Screens under the President's Climate Executive Order.
  • National Groups: Withdraw Trump Screens
    • Conservation groups from around the country call on the Biden Administration to undo Trump Administration rollbacks including the Screens.
  • Standing Tall: Eastern Oregon Forests at Risk
    • In the fall of 2020, Oregon Wild shares a comprehensive update including a story from the field showing how things might look if the USFS amends protections for large trees in Eastern Oregon (page 4).
  • Slow Down
    • In August, 2020, Oregon Senators Ron Wyden & Jeff Merkley ask the USFS to provide more opportunities for the public to weigh in on proposed changes to the Eastside Screens.
  • Do Better
    • Also in August, 2020, Conservation groups call for a better process in considering potential changes to the Eastside Screens.
  • Conservationists Call on USFS to Stop Eastside Screen Revision Process
    • In July of 2020, 27 conservation organizations raise initial concerns about the effort to revise the Eastside Screens.

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• Tribal Comments
  • Nez Perce Tribe
  • Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation
  • Klamath Tribe

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• Presentations:
  • Forever 21? Trumps Attack on Eastern Oregon
    • Conservation advocates give a presentation with Q&A on the Trump Screens at the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference.
  • The Role of Large Trees in Carbon Storage in Forests East of the Cascade Crest
    • Dr. David Mildrexler, a scientist from Eastern Oregon Legacy Lands presents his research on the importance of large trees in Eastern Oregon in the context of the Trump Screens.
  • Webcast: Taking a Stand Against Trump's Environmental Rollbacks in Oregon
    • In the fall of 2020, and with the support of conservation allies, Oregon Wild hosted a webinar on Trump's attacks on the environment with a special focus on the screens.
  • Owls and Old Growth of Eastern Oregon
    • Mixing art, science, and policy Oregon Wild guests talk about the importance of big old trees. 

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• Media:
  • Associated Press via NPR, 9/1/2023: Judge: Trump-era rule change allowing the logging of old-growth forests violates laws
     
  • Press release: 8/31/2023: Conservation groups give their take on Judge's ruling that the Forest Service violated the law in undermining the Screens.
     
  • The Conversation, 3/9/2023: The Biden administration has called for protecting mature US forests to slow climate change, but it’s still allowing them to be logged
     
  • Oregon Capital Chronicle 8/9/2022: Logging interests now dominate forest collaboratives
     
  • Media on Legal Challenge:
    • Press Release, 6/14/2022: Conservation groups file legal challenge to restore protections for wildlife, water, and large trees in Eastern Oregon and Washington
    • Associated Press, 6/14/2022: Conservation groups sue feds to protect old-growth forests
    • OPB, 6/14/2022: Lawsuit challenges rollback of large tree protections east of the Cascades
    • Baker City Herald, 6/14/2022: Groups file suit seeking to overturn Trump administration decision to allow logging of big trees
    • Washington Post, 6/15/2022: A timber sale in Oregon tests Biden’s pledge to protect older trees
    • Columbia Insight, 6/21/2022: Government exploiting fire fears to back old growth logging, say conservationists
    • Bend Bulletin, 7/1/2022: Guest Column: To save Oregon's big trees, we're suing the Forest Service
    • East Oregon Media Group via Wallowa Chieftain, 7/4/2022: Other Views: Compromise only goes so far before action needed
       
  • Oregon Capitol Chronicle, 5/30/2022: Commentary: Leaders need to be faithful to intent of Oregon’s forest collaborations
     
  • OPB, 12/24/2021: Oregon Scientists call for more protection to fight climate change, save species.
     
  • PBS video, 10/18/21: The Surprising Truth Behind Planting Trees and Climate Change
     
  • Phys.org, 4/7/21: Curb climate change the easy way: Don't cut down big trees
     
  • Washington Post: Tracking Biden's Environmental Actions
     
  • OPB, 1/20/21: Whither Eastside Screens? New guidelines allow cutting larger trees east of the Cascades
     
  • Blue Mountain Eagle, 1/19/21: Forest Service Axes 21-inch rule
     
  • Baker City Herald, 1/18/21: Forest Service ends ban on logging large trees
     
  • OPB, 11/10/20: Eastern Oregon trees are playing an outsized role in curbing climate change: study
     
  • EurekaAlert, 11/5/20: Large trees dominate carbon storage in forests
     
  • Columbia Insight, 10/22/20: The secret power of old-growth
     
  • Columbia Insight, 8/20/20: Forest Service wants to eliminate protections on large trees
     
  • Oregon Wild Press Release, 8/21/20: Trump Administration Proposes Rollback of Old Growth Protections in Eastern Oregon
     
  • OPB, 8/12/20: Trump administration wants to relax environmental protections for old, large trees in Eastern Oregon
     
  • Press release and letters, 6/23/20: Conservation Groups Withdraw from Northern Blues Forest Collaborative

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• Blogs, other:
  • Old Growth Logging in the Malheur National Forest
    • Blue Mountain Biodiversity Project followed up on a project touted by the Trump Screens team and collaborators as a model for what the new rules would mean. What they discovered was disturbing.
  • Big Trees in Eastern Oregon & Washington
    • Short video highlighting perspectives of rural Oregonians and scientists.
  • Forever 21?
    • Oregon Wild Blog on the Development of the Trump Screens.
  • Wyden and Merkley
    • Senators Wyden and Merkley weigh in on the Trump Screens amendment in the summer of 2022
    • Conservation Response: 7 conservation groups respond to Wyden and Merkley's statements (08/30/2022)
  • The Forest Service Doth Protest Too Much
    • In October, 2021, conservationists fact-checked Forest Service claims about the Trump Screens.
  • Notice of approval
    • Sandwiched between the capital insurrection and the Biden inauguration, Trump appointee, James Hubbard signed this decision to end public process and replace the long-standing Eastside Screens with a new rule allowing the logging of large and old trees on over 14,000 square miles of public lands in Eastern Oregon and Washington.
  • 21" Wildlife Screens: Proposed Changes
    • Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project reacts to the first proposal to reduce protections for large and old trees in Eastern Oregon.
  • Big Trees & Your Comments are Important
    • As the Trump Forest Service team began finalizing a proposal to weaken the Eastside Screens, Greater Hells Canyon Council took a deep dive into the legal aspects about the process.
  • Preliminary Environmental Assessment
    • In August 2020, the USFS put out an initial proposal to weaken the Eastside Screens.
  • Management Direction for Large Diameter Trees in Eastern OR & Southeastern WA
    • The USFS website on the changes to the Screens. This includes many links and much of the public record.
  • Big Trees Oregon
    • A website focused on protecting big trees, wildlife, and water and the impacts of the Trump Screens.
  • Andy Kerr: Amending the Eastside Screens, Part 1: A Quarter Century of “Interim” Management
    • Part 1 of a 3-part series from conservationist Andy Kerr.
  • Amending the Eastside Screens, Part 2: The Science of Management and the Management of Science
    • Part 2 of a 3-part series from conservationist Andy Kerr.
  • Amending the Eastside Screens, Part 3: Reignition of the Eastside Forest War or Slight Midcourse Correction?
    • The conclusion of a 3-part series on the Screens from conservation advocate Andy Kerr.

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