Murrelets Halt Oregon Logging

In late June, a U.S. District Court judge in Oregon issued a ruling preventing Scott Timber from clearcutting a tract of old-growth forest that was previously part of the Elliott State Forest. The court found that logging the parcel would harm and harass threatened marbled murrelets, violating the federal Endangered Species Act.

The ruling stems from a 2016 lawsuit that sought to block Scott Timber from clearcutting 49 acres of a 355-acre parcel because of potential murrelet impacts. According to news reports, murrelets were documented in the 49 acre parcel more than 200 times by activist groups and Scott Timber’s own contractors.

Marbled murrelets are listed as “threatened” under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Yet in July 2021, state wildlife officials uplisted the murrelet’s state protected status from threatened to endangered under Oregon’s Endangered Species Act. Currently, the Oregon Board of Forestry is developing rules to protect murrelet habitat on state and private timber lands.

Related Articles

Spotted Owl Back In Court

Latest News

Oregon’s Wil Heath Dies At Age 93

Oregon’s Wil Heath Dies At Age 93

It can be tough to be the face of logging in America, but Oregon logger Wil Heath pulled it off with class and his trademark good nature when he posed with a spotted owl on his shoulder for the January 1991 cover of Life magazine. He was quoted in an article titled ”Endangered Species: An Owl and a Logger Symbolize the Nation’s Tough Choice–Jobs or the Environment?” that showed both loggers and owls were endangered each in their own way…

read more
Idaho Producers Supply Mass Timber Arena

Idaho Producers Supply Mass Timber Arena

Industry stakeholders of all types worked to supply materials for the recently opened ICCU Basketball Arena at the University of Idaho in Moscow. The 4,000 seat facility, which opened in October 2021, incorporates several innovative mass timber elements across some of the longest spans…

read more

WANT MORE CONTENT?

Spanning seven decades since its inception in 1952, Timber Harvesting highlights innovative and successful logging operations across the U.S. and around the world. Timber Harvesting also emphasizes new technology and provides the best marketing vehicle for the industry’s suppliers to reach the largest number of loggers in North America and beyond.

Call Us: 800.669.5613