Conservation groups have filed a lawsuit to block a logging project near Eugene.
Cascadia Wildlands, Oregon Wild and Willamette Riverkeeper are challenging the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s authorization of the 4,600-acre Big League logging project. The groups alleged the agency failed to take a hard look at the project’s impacts under the National Environmental Policy Act.
Peter Jensen, legal fellow at Cascadia Wildlands, said logging will hurt species in the region.
“Those watersheds have critical habitat and are important watersheds for Willamette River spring Chinook salmon,” Jensen pointed out. “There’s also forests within this region that have critical habitat for northern spotted owls.”
In its assessment, the BLM concluded the project would have no significant impact on the environment.
Jensen stressed the project is located on one of the last healthy pockets of forest in a heavily-logged area.
“There’s some deep concern among our organizations that if you’re toying with the last percentages of healthy forest in a watershed, small acreages can mean a lot for protected species,” Jensen emphasized. “As well as other critical resource values.”
The conservation groups also said the agency failed to take into account the impacts of the 2020 Holiday Farm Fire on the region. Defenders of the logging project say logging and clearing the forest will decrease the intensity of wildfires in the future.