Cascadia Wildlands, & Oregon Wild sue US Forest Service

Working to halt an outdated timber sale originally proposed
over ten years ago, two conservation organizations filed a lawsuit today
in federal district court. The legal challenge by Cascadia Wildlands and
Oregon Wild takes aim at the Willamette National Forest's Trapper timber
sale above the McKenzie River.

The U.S. Forest Service first proposed the timber sale in 1998 and has
failed to address significant new information that has arisen since the
agency issued a decision on the project in 2003.

"The McKenzie is Eugene's backyard recreation paradise," says Kate
Ritley, Executive Director of Cascadia Wildlands. "The McKenzie's
forests filter our drinking water and shelter all kinds of wildlife. We
need to protect these precious forests for future generations, not
destroy them for short-term profits."

In the ten years since the project was planned a pair of threatened
northern spotted owls has taken up residence in the vicinity of the
timber sale. According to new research data, the species continues a
downward population trend both range-wide and in a large study area that
encompasses the logging project. Additionally, the Forest Service
logging plan fails to protect dozens of red tree vole nests located in
the project area. The red tree vole is a small mammal that lives in
older conifer forests and is required protection when its nests are
located. The vole is also a major food source for the northern spotted
owl. Because of these factors and other threats to the species, the
conservation organizations believe protections from harmful timber sales
are more warranted than ever.

The Trapper timber sale has been the subject of controversy before. On
two past occasions, Cascadia Wildlands and Oregon Wild successfully
challenged the species impacts opinion issued by the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service (USFWS). USFWS is the federal agency in charge of
recovering endangered species and had illegally issued opinions that
would have allowed the Trapper timber sale to proceed despite negative
effects to threatened wildlife.

"It is past time the Forest Service retire this reckless project for
good," says Doug Heiken, Conservation and Restoration Coordinator with
Oregon Wild. "The agency has a choice between logging mature and
old-growth forests on public lands above our treasured McKenzie River or
identifying common-sense projects that benefit wildlife, protect the
forest, and create jobs. It should be an easy choice."

The groups believe the Forest Service should be spending limited
taxpayer dollars on projects that restore degraded landscapes, like
restoration thinning in tree plantations formed by past clearcutting,
decommissioning harmful roads, and enhancing fish and wildlife habitat.
The groups have offered to work with the Forest Service and the
purchaser of the Trapper timber sale, Seneca Sawmill, to find
replacement timber volume from less controversial areas. The purchaser
has not expressed interest in this option. The Willamette National
Forest has provided replacement volume to timber companies in the past
when timber sales were mired in public controversy.
The organizations are being represented by attorneys at Western
Environmental Law Center and Cascadia Wildlands.