Environmentalists want to stop an Oregon logging project they claim is a “test case” for clear-cutting trees on the verge of becoming “old growth” stands.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management approved logging on 187 acres near Myrtle Creek, Ore., as part of the “White Castle” pilot project, which the non-profits Oregon Wild and Cascadia Wildlands believe will set a precedent for harvesting mature forests.
The groups claim the White Castle project is a “politically driven” attempt to increase logging on BLM property in Western Oregon to buttress “struggling timber-based economies” that should be enjoined by a federal judge.
The BLM has departed from its risk-averse strategy of thinning younger trees to instead focus on harvesting mature stands about to develop old growth characteristics, they said in a lawsuit.
The experiment is meant to test whether the public will tolerate clear-cutting older trees under the guise of improving forest health, the plaintiffs claim. “BLM pays a lot of lip service to ecological restoration. None of the allegations hold water,” said Jennifer Schwartz, attorney for the environmentalists, during oral arguments in Portland on Jan. 22.
From Capital Press: https://www.capitalpress.com/Timber/20150126/environmentalists-protest-test-case-logging-project