Logging

A federal judge denied a timber companies’ complaint that firefighters did not do everything possible to stop the spread of the Beachie Creek Fire.

A number of environmental groups filed a lawsuit in federal court Tuesday against federal land managers for a timber sale in old-growth forest north of Grants Pass.

U.S. officials would allow increased logging on federal lands across the Pacific Northwest in the name of fighting wildfires and boosting rural economies under proposed changes to a sweeping forest management plan that’s been in place for three decades.

Local conservationists still hope to buy the 320-acre parcel to preserve it.

In Oregon’s Coast Range, mature forests can absorb more carbon per acre than almost any other on the planet. Yet logging here continues at a steady pace, putting the environment at risk.

The judge ruled that the Jewell School District failed to make the case that the Oregon Department of Forestry was violating a funding law by reducing logging.

Republicans are backing a proposal to scale back environmental regulations to “thin” forests while Democrats and environmentalists want to fund community preparedness.

The conservation group that had hoped to buy and preserve the property is now facing a much higher price at auction.

The federal Bureau of Land Management plans to auction off almost 500 acres of forestland on Thursday to log dead or dying trees. But, one conservationist says many of the trees are actually healthy.

The Jewell School District in Clatsop County plans to “bet the farm” to overturn a habitat conservation plan that threatens the district’s timber funding.

Environmental groups celebrated the decision, calling it a win for protecting vulnerable species on private land.

Protestors have moved into another Bureau of Land Management project area in Southern Oregon after claiming their tree-sitting prevented construction of a logging road in April.