Concerns over the Cougar Rock Project
A categorical exclusion?
The Cougar Rock Project is a proposed project located near Black Butte on the Deschutes National Forest that proposes to conduct “thinning, mowings, and prescribed burning” on around 3,000 acres, primarily within mule deer winter range.
Concerningly, the Forest Service proposes to move this project forward through a Categorical Exclusion.
What’s a Categorical Exclusion? It’s an abbreviated process under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reserved for projects that a federal agency believes will have no significant environmental impact.
A Categorical Exclusion bypasses the more detailed investigation into a project's risks. This type of deeper investigation comes with the normal environmental review process for agency actions on public lands.
LandWatch is concerned that the proposed actions would have a negative impact on mule deer habitat and wildlife corridors within the project area and needs to be further analyzed in an environmental assessment.
The limited analysis and information provided to the public via a categorical exclusion fail to address key questions about the true scope of the project’s impacts.
LandWatch submitted scoping comments asking the Forest Service to conduct a more thorough Environmental Assessment under NEPA. Notably, other regional stakeholders, including the Deschutes Collaborative Forest Project, also expressed concerns about the Forest Service’s use of a Categorical Exclusion.
We await a decision from the Forest Service to determine our next steps, likely sometime this summer.
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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 fight for their right to exist with as little intervention as possible. We continue to advocate for the preservation of our wild lands for their inherent value, and for the wildlife habitats and ancient forests they host.