FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BLM Old-Growth Logging Declared Illegal

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals says the BLM ignored the impact of destroying old-growth habitat

The Ninth Circuit of the Court of Appeals found that the Medford District of the Bureau of Land Management mislead the public and illegally logged old-growth forests that provide critical links for threatened fish and wildlife.

For more information (and images) please contact:

George Sexton,  Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center (541) 488-5789

Ralph Bloemers, Crag Law Center (503) 525.2725

Today the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Bureau of Land Management misled the public and violated federal environmental law in authorizing the logging of over 203acres of old growth forest in the Cow Creek Watershed. In 2003, the BLM slapped together a proposal to log this old growth forest, which contained some of the last remaining critical habitat for the Northern Spotted Owl.

The logging proposal is in a key watershed for wild fish populations and included trees that were well over 6 feet wide.  William Shakespeare was born around 1564 and around the same time a small Douglas fir tree sprouted up north of the Rogue River as a new seedling. While Shakespeare was killed by fever in April 1616 in a way that modern science may have prevented, the BLM ignored the science and authorized a timber company to log them in violation of the law. The forest forms part of critical links for the Northern

Spotted Owl and is at risk from BLM’s illegal logging and its recent “settlement” with the timber industry that is now leading to the Western Oregon Plan Revisions proposal to eliminate protections for old growth forest and the rivers that run through these forests. George Sexton of the Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center noted that “This timber sale illustrates that the BLM is willing to go to any lengths to cut down old-growth forests. For four centuries the Shakespeare tree grew big and survived countless fires, windstorms and insect attacks. BLM misledthe public and in less than 20 minutes this tree was illegally cut down.”

After the BLM authorized this cut, local citizens removed a slice from the stump of an illegally logged 440 year-old Douglas fir tree in this stand of massive old growth trees. The tree was known as the “Shakespeare Tree” and was cut as part of this timber sale. The slice then toured the country to highlight the agency’s actions. The

A number of local conservation groups monitored the BLM’s ongoing violations of the law, and sought the help of Crag Law Center staff attorney Ralph Bloemers. The project was challenged by local citizens and volunteers involved with the Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center, Headwaters, Oregon Wild (formerly Oregon Natural Resources Council) and Umpqua Watersheds. Ralph Bloemers, staff attorney for Crag Law Center stated: “BLM is being held accountable for being dishonest with the public and logging over seven times the harvest deemed sustainable for this critical watershed. BLM denies that it is cutting down the last-remaining old-growth, but the public caught the agency red-handed. This decision sends a strong message to the BLM that its efforts to evade the law will not be tolerated.”

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