Federal court in Oregon rules BLM's Integrated Vegetation Management logging program is illegal, as program would destroy old-growth forests in protected reserves, increase fire hazards; challengers push BLM to prioritize fuel removal over timber sales

April 2, 2025 (press release) –

PORTLAND, Oregon, April 2 -- Oregon Wild issued the following news release on April 1, 2025:

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Court Strikes Down Illegal BLM Logging in Protected Old-Growth Reserves

MEDFORD, OR -- Medford, Ore., - Yesterday, Federal District Court Judge Ann Aiken ruled that the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) "Integrated Vegetation Management" (IVM) logging program illegally authorized the destruction of old-growth forest stands located within Late Successional Reserves. With this ruling, the court agreed that "gap creation" and "open seral" logging prescriptions within the Late Successional Reserves would have increased fire hazard while removing old-growth forest habitat.

Conservation groups from across Oregon challenged the IVM logging project with the goal of getting BLM forest managers to focus on fuels reduction and fire resiliency instead of logging old-growth forests to meet artificial timber targets.

"This ruling confirms that Late Successional Reserves are exactly what their name says," said George Sexton, KS Wild Conservation Director. "These fire-resilient old-growth forest stands capture carbon while providing some of the best wildlife habitat left in southern Oregon."

The first commercial IVM timber sales called Penn Butte and Late Mungers were located in the Williams Late Successional Reserve and would have removed over 400-acres of old-growth habitat through "open seral" logging and another 51 acres through "gap creation" clearcutting.

"Reckless timber sales like this are exactly why we need strong public oversight," said John Persell, Staff Attorney for Oregon Wild. "Trump's executive order to ramp up logging pushes for more destructive projects to benefit the timber industry, but the forests at Penn Butte and Late Mungers should be protected as key habitat and for carbon storage, not sacrificed for corporate profit."

A primary problem with BLM's IVM timber scheme was that timber planners hoped to avoid site-specific analysis and public input while removing old-growth forest habitat from Late Successional Reserves and increasing fire hazard in logged forest stands.

"If the BLM is interested in real fire-focused restoration, we would be fully supportive," said stated Cascadia Wildlands Legal Director Nick Cady, "but that is not what the IVM logging program is. Aggressively logging wildlife habitat in the Late Successional Reserves that will increase fire hazard for the surrounding community is ridiculous. It demonstrates that this agency does not care what this community has been through and is only concerned with producing timber volume."

The successful legal challenge was argued by Meriel Darzen of the Crag Law Center on behalf of KS Wild, Oregon Wild, Cascadia Wildlands, and the Soda Mountain Wilderness Council. In the shadow of the Trump Administration's anti-environmental Executive Orders, Crag remains committed to the rule of law.

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Original text here: https://oregonwild.org/court-strikes-down-illegal-logging-plan/

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