Author: Luke Ruediger

Thanks to the work of Klamath Forest Alliance (KFA), other local activists, residents, and conservation organizations with a local, regional and national focus, the secret got out, and the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest announced this morning that the Secret Timber Sale on beautiful Briggs Creek, west of Grants Pass, Oregon has been cancelled, along with the impending timber sale auction! This large 53″ diameter legacy trees was marked for removal in the now cancelled Secret Timber Sale. Make no mistake, without the work of KFA activists monitoring the timber sale mark, the Forest Service would have logged these fire-adapted, old-growth trees! It is also important to note that this project was nominated by KFA for review under the National Old-Growth Amendment. In fact, we directly identified a need to review and to cancel the specific logging units that have now become so controversial. Rather than avoiding this controversy, by protecting these old forests, the Forest Service’s...

A recent blog post and video by Klamath Forest Alliance, along with the advocacy of residents, conservationists, and elected officials from throughout the region and throughout the country has forced the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest to “extend” the auction date for the Secret Timber Sale until September 19. Meaning unless we effectively organize against this sale, these forests could still be sold to the highest bidder in just six days. Unit 23 of the Secret Timber Sale proposes to break up fire resilient, old-growth groupings found throughout the stand. This photos shows just one of these groupings where an over 40″ diameter tree is marked blue for removal. Although we appreciate this temporary reprieve, the agency has made no guarantee that the old-growth trees currently targeted for removal will be retained or that the old-growth units would be withdrawn from the timber sale. Thus, the mature, old-growth and highly fire resistant forests of Briggs Creek and Secret Creek...

For many years the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest has proposed the Upper Briggs Restoration Project on the Wild Rivers Ranger District, and for many years Klamath Forest Alliance (KFA) has opposed the old-growth logging portions of the project. Located on Briggs Creek, a beautiful tributary of the Illinois River, the Upper Briggs Restoration Project was estimated to produce approximately 30 million board feet of timber in over 4,000 acres of commercial logging units. Ironically, after claiming in the original  Environmental Assessment (first scoped in 2016) that “untreated” stands were particularly vulnerable to high-severity fire effects, the entire Briggs Creek watershed burned at 82% low severity during the 2018 Klondike-Taylor Fire. In fact, nearly all units proposed for logging in the Upper Briggs Restoration Project underburned during the 2018 Klondike-Taylor Fire, demonstrating significant natural fire resilience, and ability to maintain their old forest canopy. Numerous...

Although the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument was designated to protect and restore biodiversity, habitat connectivity, and ecological integrity at the critical intersection of the Cascade Mountains and the Siskiyou Crest east of Ashland, Oregon, the management plan currently proposed by the BLM looks more like an industrial logging and grazing plan than a blueprint for effective conservation. In 2017, a science-based expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument was designated by President Obama, expanding outward to the north and east. This triggered the development of a new management plan and in typical fashion BLM has used the opportunity to undermine the monument by attempting to expand the footprint of commercial logging, maintain both the status quo and the habitat degradation associated with livestock grazing, and codify unauthorized and environmentally damaging off-road vehicle routes throughout the National Monument. Certainly not conservation based, the BLM is proposing...

The Monument Affirmed! On March 25, 2024 after years of litigation, the Supreme Court declined to take up the timber industry’s case against the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. The decision by the highest court in the land to not take up this case, in turn, upheld two appeals court decisions, finding that the use of the Antiquities Act on O&C lands in Western Oregon was both lawful and appropriate, thus upholding the designation of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. Established in 2000 by President Clinton, the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument was the first national monument designated to protect biodiversity. Originally designated as a 53,000 acre monument, the Obama Administration expanded the area to its current size, 113,820 acres, in 2017. The monument currently includes the convergence of the Cascade Mountains and the Siskiyou Mountains, but fails to adequately protect the Siskiyou Crest, which acts as the axis for biodiversity on the West Coast, and as one...