2018-2019 Accomplishments

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Here’s a snapshot of our accomplishments from the 2018-2019 fiscal year.

Protecting Special Places

  • Secured passage of the Oregon Wildlands Act through Congress, including the 30,000 acre Devil’s Staircase Wilderness and 256 miles of Wild & Scenic Rivers in western Oregon.
  • Finalized the designation of Oregon’s newest State Scenic Waterway, the Nehalem River.
  • Launched an unprecedented effort to protect thousands of miles of Wild & Scenic Rivers by forming a statewide coalition following congressional public lands forums to look at what public lands are most in need of conservation legislation across the state.
  • Kick-started efforts to increase protections around Mount Hood and the Columbia River Gorge by launching a coalition and hosting a successful forum with Sen. Ron Wyden and Rep. Earl Blumenauer.
  • Finally wrapped up a successful court case against the proposed Summit OHV project that would have sliced almost 200 miles of new OHV trails into the Ochoco National Forest after avoiding a government appeal to the 9th Circuit.
  • Worked with the Old Growth Forest Network to dedicate their first three forests in Oregon at Cummins Creek, Cape Perpetua, and Opal Creek (July 2019)
  • Continued our court fight with allies to keep the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument protections in place.

Defending and Restoring Oregon’s Forests and Waters

  • With allies and local activists, we brought the case for modernizing Oregon’s private forest laws to a boiling point through:
    • Delivering thousands of petition signatures to the Governor and Legislature followed up by a lobby day where activists visited every office to deliver forest waters and forest carbon materials.
    • Teaching and assisting dozens of rural Oregonians on the state’s logging notification system, FERNS, to monitor and respond to industrial logging and aerial spray near their homes.
    • Working with dozens of coastal volunteers to launch and collect signatures for a statewide initiative petition effort to protect forest waters at the ballot in the 2020 election.
  • Along with Mountaineers Books, we released Chandra LeGue’s Oregon’s Ancient Forests – A Hiking Guide to introduce a new generation of Oregonians to our state’s iconic old-growth forests.
  • Toured CBS Saturday Morning through Oregon’s public and private forestland highlighting to a national audience the need to protect the intact old-growth we have left and restore badly mismanaged forests on private lands.
  • Supported the publication of our report, “Forest Defense is Climate Defense,” with three large public events across the state highlighting new science outlining the critical role that improved forest management and protection can play in fighting climate change.
  • Helped persuade Lane County to withdraw from the timber industry-friendly Association of O&C Counties, furthering the effort to undermine pro-clearcutting politicians using public funds to lobby for excessive clearcutting on public lands.
  • Through our forest watchdog program we:
    • Commented on a total of 125 projects that impact public lands; protested/objected to 68 projects that would have had unacceptable negative impacts; secured improvements on four of those projects prior to litigation.
    • Continued to defend the Lostine Wild & Scenic corridor in court from a misguided logging project.
    • Protected the Thurston Hills designated recreation area outside Springfield from clearcut logging.
    • Prevented unnecessary logging in the Boulder Creek watershed near Mount Hood.
    • Reduced old-growth logging in the Imnaha Wild & Scenic River corridor, saving some trees and authorizing some to be knocked into the river rather than sent to the mill
    • Objected as part of a coalition to the long-delayed Blue Mountain Forest Plan Revision which was subsequently shelved by the Forest Service.

Helping Native Species Thrive

  • With allies, successfully passed a ban on M-44 cyanide bombs through the Oregon Legislature, ending a practice that indiscriminately killed native wildlife and threatened human safety.
  • Stopped an anti-wolf candidate’s confirmation to the Fish and Wildlife Commission.
  • Won a lawsuit that determined the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission acted illegally when it denied our petition to list the marbled murrelet as endangered.
  • Banned trapping of Humboldt marten across its habitat in the Siuslaw National Forest and western Oregon.
  • Through trail monitoring and education with partners, reduced disturbance to elk during calving season on one section of the Deschutes National Forest by 93%.
  • Wrote, produced, and released a special podcast, “Lost Sea Otters of Oregon” about the extermination and hoped-for reintroduction of this native species to Oregon coastal waters.
  • Continued wildlife monitoring program and expanded it across the state.