We just filed a lawsuit to protect 7 million acres of national forests
The stump of a large tree remains after a logging project in Big Mosquito, Unit 70, 2021: Daniel Howland
Defending 7 million acres of national forests
To save Eastern Oregon’s biggest trees, we’re going to federal court
Yesterday, Central Oregon LandWatch and five other conservation organizations filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the Forest Service’s decision to allow logging of large and old trees in national forests across Central and Eastern Oregon.
This decision, made in the final days of the Trump administration, removed protections on large trees from logging on at least 7 million acres (or 11,000 square miles) of national forest. The decision amended the “Eastside Screens,” a nearly 30-year-old policy put in place to protect the remaining large trees east of the cascade crest after a century of clearcutting and high-grade logging.
Preserving large and old growth trees has been at the core of LandWatch’s wild lands work since the organization's inception in the 1980s. Nearly four decades later, as we are increasingly confronted with the twin threats of the climate and biodiversity crises, this work is more important than ever.
For over a year, we have been advocating for the Biden administration and Oregon’s elected officials to restore protections for mature forests, working with groups across Oregon to raise the alarm about what’s coming, and those efforts have been fruitless. Now, the Forest Service is authorizing timber sales across Central and Eastern Oregon’s national forests that will log trees greater than 21” in diameter. We won’t sit quietly and watch this devastation unfold.
The backstory
The Eastside Screens were initially put in place by the Forest Service to protect remaining habitat for old-growth-dependent wildlife following the rapid decline of certain species after decades of logging the biggest trees in Eastern Oregon and Washington’s national forests.
In the final days of the Trump administration, the Forest Service removed the long-standing protections despite overwhelming evidence that large trees play a critical role in maintaining biodiversity and mitigating climate change. In fact, 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.
Large 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 amendment has been 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.
Old-growth ponderosa pines in the Ochoco National Forest. Copyright Jim Davis
What happens next?
Central Oregon LandWatch joined this lawsuit to restore protections for large trees in central and eastern Oregon. The Forest Service short-circuited public involvement opportunities, released a cursory and incomplete analysis, and issued a politically-charged decision–precisely the opposite process from what the bedrock environmental laws require of the agency.
As for what comes next, the federal government has 60 days to respond, after which a litigation schedule will likely be released.
Central Oregon LandWatch and its supporters have defended the region’s wild lands for decades. We keep a close eye on projects that encroach on these spaces and continue to advocate for preserving our wild lands for their inherent value and for the wildlife habitats and ancient forests they host.