Oregon Wild, Sierra Club and 36 other groups aim to protect federal lands along the McKenzie and North Umpqua rivers
Federal land managers are working to auction 10,000 acres of fire-affected public forest for timber sale in Oregon, but environmentalists are pushing back.
A coalition made up of 38 national and regional environmental advocacy groups, including Oregon Wild and the Sierra Club, sent a letter to Oregon’s congressional delegates on Feb. 1, asking them to work with the Biden administration and oppose post-fire logging in an effort to protect federal lands along the McKenzie and North Umpqua rivers in Central and Southern Oregon.
The letter claims these areas are especially fragile from last year’s wildfires, and that logging threatens their ecosystems and watersheds. While the land is not currently under the saw, those signing onto the letter seek federal action, as well as an end to the Trump-era deregulation that allowed these areas to be put up for auction in the first place.
“(The) particular process for pushing these sales is another example of the Trump administration’s looting-public-lands agenda,” Tim Ingalsbee told Street Roots. As executive director of Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology, Ingalsbee was among signatories on the letter.
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In November, the Trump administration approved a policy change that allows the U.S. Forest Service to bypass National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requirements, in order to streamline the approval process for logging and road building in national forest areas of up to 2,800 acres at a time.
This change, enabling “categorical exclusions,” or NEPA-exempt logging, is what put this Central and Southern Oregon land up for auction. And, according to Rebecca White, wildlands director at Cascadia Wildlands, the logging projects can now be approved without environmental review.
Those signing onto the letter fear bypassing research that would assess environmental impacts on logging areas will lead to even more severe damage in watersheds they deem crucial for Oregonians.
Sarah Bennett, a spokesperson for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), told Street Roots that the salvage logging would take place on land already designated for timber sale in the agency’s 2016 Resource Management Plan. But White, of Cascadia Wildlands, explained that BLM’s plan did not constitute approval for specific logging projects or exempt them from site-specific environmental assessment.
While timber companies and the Forest Service historically defend post-fire logging and claim it’s necessary for fire prevention and clean up, conservationists such as Ingalsbee say burned forests are “hotspots” for biodiversity and that logging damages these ecosystems and prevents natural healing.
Wildfires are an integral part of Oregon’s environment, but there’s no consensus between environmental groups, loggers and politicians on how to deal with the aftermath or prevention.
Most environmental advocates maintain that post-fire logging damages ecosystems and exists only as a loophole for federal logging projects to grab land, while the Forest Service and other land managers say clearing burn areas reduces safety hazards, such as falling limbs, and helps areas heal. Academic research and public opinion go both ways.
Oregon’s U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley told Street Roots in a statement sent by his office that his priority for public lands is to balance the need for ecological management and forest-related jobs, while also working to prevent wildfires and “climate chaos.”
The senator did not answer questions about his position on post-fire logging or the letter asking to pause logging activity near the McKenzie and North Umpqua rivers.
Oregon’s U.S. Reps. Cliff Bentz and Kurt Schrader did not respond to Street Roots’ requests for comment, but activists like Arran Robertson, of the conservation group Oregon Wild, did point to new collaboration between environmentalists and politicians after Sens. Ron Wyden and Merkley introduced the River Democracy Act of 2021.
The bill would designate an additional 4,700 miles of river in Oregon as “wild and scenic waterways,” which would protect those areas for public recreation, according to a press release from Oregon Wild. If these rivers are marked for “carbon storage” or “wildlife habitat” under this plan, it can also give activists an edge for challenging nearby logging proposals in the future.
The coalition has not yet received a response from politicians regarding their letter asking them to work with the Biden administration and protect public land along the North Umpqua and McKenzie rivers.
Around 10,000 fire-affected acres in this area are currently under consideration for auction.
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