#RefugeRally Announced for Tuesday, Jan 19th Public will gather to support Malheur refuge, celebrate national public lands OREGON/WASHINGTON- Rallies supporting Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and public lands will be held across Oregon and Washington Tuesday, January 19th at noon.The public is invited to join this statewide event expressing appreciation for national public lands, their public … Continue reading Public Lands Rallies Planned Across Oregon
Mt. June/Hardesty Mountain Roadless Area Threatened with Old-Growth Clearcutting
Some of our favorite hikes here at Cascadia Wildlands wind through the Hardesty Mountain Roadless Area just southeast of Eugene. Hardesty is one of the closest old-growth, roadless areas you can access from Eugene, and is a favorite of hikers and mountain bikers alike. We have worked for years to safeguard this area for its … Continue reading Mt. June/Hardesty Mountain Roadless Area Threatened with Old-Growth Clearcutting
Win on the Tongass: Forest Service Withdraws Mitkof Island Old-Growth Timber Sale
October 12, 2015 — In a federal court filing last Friday the U.S. Forest Service announced it will withdraw its decision on the Mitkof Island Project, a large 35 million board foot timber sale. The project is in the center of the Tongass National Forest, near the communities of Petersburg and Kupreanof.
Goose Timber Sale is Back!
Two years ago the community of McKenzie Bridge was surprised to find pending timber harvest signs on their property boundaries with the Willamette National Forest. The community started askng questions and realized that the Forest Service had planned a massive timber harvest that entirely surrounded the town. The sale involved mature forest clearcutting, extensive riverside … Continue reading Goose Timber Sale is Back!
Last Chance to Comment on BLM’s Western Oregon Plan Revision
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages over 2.6 million acres of public forests in western Oregon and has recently undertaken efforts to revise all of its forest plans. These plans aim to dramatically increase timber harvests by 60% and ressurect the archaic practices of clearcutting older forests. The draft of the proposed plan … Continue reading Last Chance to Comment on BLM’s Western Oregon Plan Revision
Lawsuit Launched to Protect Northwest Prairie Bird Species
August 5, 2015 — Four conservation groups filed a formal notice of intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today seeking to strengthen protections for the streaked horned lark, which has lost 98 percent its grassland habitat. The lawsuit will challenge an October 2013 decision by the agency to protect the lark as “threatened” rather than the more protective “endangered” status and to exempt all agriculture, chemical spraying, and airport activities from the prohibitions of the Endangered Species Act regardless of whether they harm the lark.
Legal Battle Results in Protections for Alaska’s Tongass National Forest
August 29, 2015 — In a major victory for America’s last great rainforest, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit struck down a Bush administration exemption of the Tongass National Forest from the “Roadless Rule,” a landmark conservation rule adopted in 2001 to protect nearly 60 million acres of wild national forests and grasslands from new road building and logging. The Court held the Bush administration failed to provide a reasoned explanation for reversing course on the Tongass. It concluded the Roadless Rule “remains in effect and applies to the Tongass.”
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: Logging Industry Lawsuit Thrown out by Federal Appeals Court
June 12, 2015 — A logging industry lawsuit that sought to force the Bureau of Land Management to increase logging on public lands in southwest Oregon was thrown out today by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. The ruling vacates a 2013 decision that would have forced the Bureau of Land Management to sell timber even when those sales would have harmed salmon and had detrimental impacts on water quality and recreation.
BLM Public Meetings and Workshops on Western Oregon Draft Resource Management Plan
The Bureau of Land Management is hosting a series of open houses and workshops throughout western Oregon for the public to learn about the planning updates to the Resource Management Plans for western Oregon, or the Western Oregon Plan Revisions (WOPR Jr.). The recently released Draft Resource Management Plan (RMP)/Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) details the BLM's alternative proposals for … Continue reading BLM Public Meetings and Workshops on Western Oregon Draft Resource Management Plan