Feds want to triple logging in Oregon & SE Washington

The Trump administration has declared a war on Cascadia's forests.

Even though the feds' plan to sell off a bunch of public lands fell apart last year, the Trump regime is systematically destroying protections for Oregon and Washington's forests and moving to triple logging of public lands in Cascadia.

Intent on ramping up clear-cut logging, the feds rescinded the 25-year-old roadless rule, which protects more than 2 million acres of sensitive habitat and forest lands in Oregon. A new study led by a professor at the University of Washington found that that nationwide, the 60 million acres of roadless areas helped protect clean drinking water for 25 million people.

The feds then essentially destroyed the US Forest Service, moving its headquarters, shutting down local research stations, laying off staff, and eliminating trail funding.

As Trump burns down the Forest Service, Cascadia should take control of our federal land

The Trump regime last week quietly killed the US Forest Service.

Cascadia JournalAndrew Engelson

Next, they took aim at the Endangered Species act, making the ludicrous claim that preventing "harm" to species as required in the act doesn't include destruction of habitat. Decades of court-mandated efforts to protect spotted owls, chinook salmon, and marbled murrelets all depend on this interpretation of harm, and the feds' new approach is nothing but a radical elimination of decades of environmental protections in the Pacific Northwest.

Bethany Cotton, conservation director of Cascadia Wildlands, said in a statement, “The idea that burning down a person’s house does not ‘harm’ that person defies all logic. The Trump administration’s interpretation that destroying an imperiled species’ habitat is not harmful is absurd and will not stand.”

Cascadia Wildlands and a coalition of other environmental groups today announced they've filed a lawsuit against the feds' attempt to stop protecting habitat.

Meanwhile, the Forest Service is barrelling forward with a plan to triple logging in Oregon and southeast Washington. A plan for logging in the Blue Mountains, published in early July and reported on by Oregon Capital Chronicle, would eliminate roadless areas, end restrictions on logging of old growth trees, and increase the acreage of logged areas in three national forests by more than 2 million acres.

The plan envisions clear-cutting and massive timber cutting in the Malheur Wallowa-Whitman, Umatilla national forests.

In a statement on the plan, Lauren Anderson of the environmental organization Oregon Wild, said:

“This plan seeks to open up and pillage one of the wildest places left in the US. The Trump administration is already taking a hatchet to protections for water, wildlife, and the public’s voice. This plan is that philosophy in action, putting at risk the very values that make the Blue Mountains special.”

Maps in the proposed plan make clear the massive scale of the increase in clear-cutting. Compare two maps of the Umatilla National Forest in Washington and Oregon. The first image shows areas in yellow that are currently protected by the roadless rule (green areas are wilderness, brown are open to logging). The second map shows what will open to clear-cutting once the feds get their hands on roadless areas that have been protected for a quarter century:

This is a direct assault on what we love about Cascadia: places to hike, paddle, hunt, and fish. Clean drinking water. Functioning ecosystems and thriving wildlife. All of this is at risk due to the Trump regime's greed and disregard for what we value here in the Northwest.

Indeed, a recent poll published by Oregon Wild found that 72% of Oregonians support protection of old-growth forests, 67% opposed eliminating habitat protection under the ESA, and 67% opposed recent layoffs of forest service employees.

Angry yet? Good. Send a comment to the Forest Service by September 30 here.

Thanks for reading. Keep fighting and keep loving. --Andy