2023 Annual Report
Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project is wrapping up another busy year working to protect and restore the natural ecosystems of the Eastern Cascades and Blue Mountains. Our year was filled with ecological and legal accomplishments, as well as challenges. We at BMBP would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for your continuing support. Thank you for helping us protect National Forests in eastern Oregon!
Forest Planning: Stay tuned for upcoming opportunities to get involved
The Forest Service has begun the process of revising Forest Plans for the Malheur, Umatilla, and Wallowa-Whitman National Forests. Forest Planning affects nearly every aspect of how the Forest Service manages these landscapes. Approximately 5.5 million acres will be affected in eastern Oregon and southeastern Washington by the Forest Plan Revisions.
Forest Plans include guidance and rules on a broad range of issues such as logging, livestock grazing, climate change, connectivity, wildlife, Wilderness, and more. They also determine whether the agency is tasked with following stringent, clear, and enforceable standards to protect forest and stream ecosystems— or if they instead use voluntary guidelines that allow the agency more discretion around how actions such as timber sales are conducted.
Given the climate and biodiversity crises, we urgently need a true paradigm shift that moves away from logging and resource extraction and instead focuses on protecting ecosystem integrity across the region. We’re asking the Forest Service to adopt Forest Plans that prioritize wildlife and their habitat, biodiversity, clean cold water, and carbon storage. Regrettably, the agency is narrowly focused on logging, largely ignoring wildlife, climate change, and wholistic ecosystem protections.
Current Forest Plans include standards that require retaining specific types and amounts of wildlife habitat, such as how many snags (standing dead trees) and downed logs are present, and how much forest cover is available for deer and elk. While these and many of the standards in the current Forest Plans could use improvement to ensure that they are sufficiently protective of wildlife and water quality, we are concerned that the Forest Service will instead weaken or simply eliminate existing protections. The agency has continued to push for weaker rules that are discretionary and subjective, lack quantitative standards, and are difficult to enforce. Weaker rules are unlikely to sufficiently protect wildlife and stream habitats, water quality, or native species.
Let forests grow! It’s long past time for the Forest Service to acknowledge that we can’t log our way out of the climate crisis, and we can’t keep people safe by logging in the backcountry. The most effective strategy to keeping communities safe is to work around those communities, and to stop ineffective and costly logging in the backcountry.
Wildlands Field Surveys: Every summer, BMBP staff and volunteers survey thousands of acres of proposed timber sales. Field surveying is the backbone of our work, and provides on-the-ground evidence for our public comments, negotiations, and litigation.
During the 2023 field season, we hosted 28 volunteers, including 12 new and 16 returning volunteers. New volunteers include Parker, Roby, Devon, Fig, Addison, SB, Puck, Lexi, Dylan, Gerhardt, and Bonesaw. Returning volunteers include Alex, Bramble, Sophie, Will, Liza, Peter, Ella, Maria, Jack, Mary, Sunny, Pip, Trygve, Hillary, Ruby, and Cooper.
BMBP field surveyed four timber sales in 2023: the Mt. Emily Categorical Exclusion and Tiger Mill sales (Umatilla National Forest (NF)), the North Fork Crooked River “Forest Resilience Project” (Ochoco NF) and the Morgan Nesbit “Forest Resiliency Project” (Wallowa Whitman NF). In addition, we spot-checked the Parker Mills “Fuels Reduction Project” Categorical Exclusion sale (Umatilla NF) and the Clarks “Vegetation Management Project” (Wallowa-Whitman NF). We also spot-checked recent logging in the Camp Lick and Big Mosquito sales (Malheur NF).
We were grateful to welcome back Ella Hackett, our summer intern Campaign Assistant, back to BMBP during the 2023 field season. Ella provided invaluable help in the field and in the office!
Acres Saved: As a result of BMBP and allies’ objections to the Green Ridge timber sale (Deschutes NF), the Forest Service dropped logging of large trees over 20” diameter at breast height (DBH) on approximately 1,279 acres of mature and old forests (aka “Late Successional Reserves”), as well as 160 acres of Northern Spotted Owl core areas. The agency also dropped 1,400 acres of commercial logging throughout the sale, including numerous units that BMBP identified through our field surveys as high priority for dropping. The 1,400 acres includes 230 acres within streamside riparian forests, and will result in fewer miles of “temporary” roads. BMBP’s drop requests prioritized mature and old forests, high-quality wildlife habitat including for Northern spotted owls, and stream and riparian areas. We appreciate the agency’s modifications to the sale, and hope that they make further changes to benefit the wildlife and ecosystem integrity in the area.
We remain extremely concerned about proposed logging in the Green Ridge sale, and the ecological damage to unique moist mixed-conifer forests and streamside forests. The area is home to Northern spotted owls, and has been recognized as crucial for providing clean cold water for imperiled fish. The area also is important for wolf recovery, and wolves were recently confirmed to be in the area. Especially given how heavily roaded and over-logged the surrounding region is, the Green Ridge area provides important cover for wolves as well as deer, elk, and other animals. Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project has requested that the Forest Service withdraw this sale, or at the very least drop their remaining plans to log large trees within the project area. Several groups, including Sisters Trail Alliance, Western Watersheds Project, Central Oregon Landwatch, and others, have also expressed serious concerns about this sale and asked the Forest Service to drop all large tree logging in the sale.
In response to widespread opposition from multiple citizen and environmental groups, including BMBP, the Ochoco National Forest withdrew the Lemon Gulch Trail Project. The proposal would have put mountain biker trails through sensitive areas such streams, steep slopes with erosive soils, and core habitat for deer and elk.
BMBP continues to work with the Malheur National Forest to drastically reduce herbicide use, apply herbicides that are less toxic, and effectively tackle invasive species issues. Karen Coulter, BMBP’s Director, met with the botanist earlier this year to discuss progress and monitoring of invasive plant management on the forest.
BMBP’s work has resulted in decreasing the amount of herbicide the agency is using, while also expanding the acreage where they are addressing invasive species infestations. BMBP’s work also resulted in sensitive and cultural-use plants being buffered from herbicides, stopping the agency’s use of Picloram, and reducing the use of Triclopyr.
Our recent accomplishments in cooperation with the Malheur National Forest grew out of BMBP’s successful court litigation in the early 2000’s that stopped all herbicide use on the Malheur National Forest for 10 years. BMBP then negotiated with botanists to create a plan to drastically decrease herbicide use. The amount of herbicide being used is decreasing, even as the acreage on which they effectively reduce invasive plants has increased. The work BMBP has accomplished in cooperation with the Malheur NF can be used as a model for other Forests.
Engagement in the public comment process: Engagement in the public comment process is more important than ever—especially as Congress and agencies continue their efforts to weaken environmental laws, fast-track timber sales and other projects, and decrease accountability and public oversight. For example, fear of fire is being used to drive initiatives such as the Wildfire Crisis Strategy, which would pour federal money into outdated and ineffective logging in the back country, as well as the expanded use of loopholes such as Categorical Exclusions and Emergency Sale Determinations, which enable the agency to circumvent key portions of the public comment and oversight processes.
BMBP is currently tracking over 30 agency projects in different stages of planning. We submit public comments on every major timber sale in our work area. BMBP also shares Action Alerts with the public, in order to encourage people to raise their voices on behalf of forests in Eastern Oregon. Public pressure matters! Please visit our website to sign up for our Action Alerts. Even brief comments can make a difference.
In 2023, BMBP submitted comments on the Mt. Emily Categorical Exclusion and Morgan Nesbit sales (Wallowa-Whitman NF), the Tiger-Mill and Parker’s Mill sales (Umatilla NF), the Mill Creek sale (Ochoco NF), the Emigrant Creek Ranger District Aspen Restoration Project and the Murderer’s Creek Wild Horse Management Plan (Malheur NF), the Deschutes Fuels Maintenance Project (Deschutes NF), and the North Fork Crooked River sale (Ochoco NF). We also submitted comments on the Forest Service’s advance notice of proposed rulemaking on managing forests for climate resilience.
BMBP submitted objections to the Green Ridge timber sale (Deschutes NF) and the Emigrant Creek Ranger District Aspen Project (Malheur NF). We also attended objection resolution meetings for these sales.
Agency Meetings Attended: We attended an open house in Baker City on the Baker City Municipal Watershed project, meetings on the Green Ridge timber sale, the Mature and Old Growth Threat Analysis meeting, and two meetings on the agency’s Blue Mountains Forest Plan Revisions.
Spotlight on threats to large trees and mature and old forests in the Tiger Mill sale:
The Tiger-Mill timber sale (Umatilla NF) is located approximately 13 miles east of Walla Walla, Washington. As part of this sale, the Forest Service is proposing to commercially log 9,343 acres, including in mature and old forests, designated wildlife areas, the drinking watershed for the city of Walla Walla, and the Mill Creek Inventoried Roadless Area. The sale is also adjacent to the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness and the Walla Walla River Inventoried Roadless Area.
Unfortunately, logging and road-related activities are well-documented to negatively affect water quality. For example, logging can cause increases in stream temperatures and excess fine sediments, both of which can be limiting or lethal to sensitive aquatic species.
Bull trout, Redband trout, Mid-Columbia River steelhead, Chinook salmon– all of which currently occupy or historically occupied the area– rely on clean, cold water for survival. Bull trout and Redband trout are currently found within the project area. Efforts to restore Chinook salmon to the area are being led by the Umatilla Indian Reservation.
Despite the Forest Service acknowledging in their scoping documents that the forests in the area that haven’t been logged and roaded are currently supplying excellent water quality for drinking water–and that forest areas that have experienced logging and roading continue to suffer from impaired water quality and degraded stream habitats-– the Forest Service is now proposing to log in minimally or never-logged forests in the Municipal Watershed, as well as in watersheds previously degraded by logging.
Lack of public transparency: The Mill Creek Municipal Watershed is off limits to the public without a permit. Some of the most pristine and sensitive forests in the Tiger-Mill sale are, essentially, behind closed doors. Should the sale move forward, logging in these ecologically important mature and old forests in the Municipal Watershed would occur out of the public eye and with little to no public oversight or transparency.
We’ve reached out to the Forest Service with inquiries about getting a permit to survey within the Municipal Watershed. So far, we have not received clear answers from the agency. We are very concerned about the lack of transparency for public participation. The core of Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project’s work is based on our extensive field surveys of proposed timber sales, and our use of field survey data in the public comment process. Over the years, we have gotten tens of thousands of acres of proposed logging dropped or modified through using our field survey data in discussions and negotiations with the agency. Unfortunately, our time-tested and effective methods for safeguarding public forests have been blocked by having these forests be off limits to the public.
The Tiger-Mill sale area encompasses rugged and unique landscapes that deserve protection from logging. The area supports mature and old forests with complex canopy structures, natural openings, a mosaic of topographic and ecological conditions, and a variety of habitats. Mature and old forests, and their habitat complexity, are crucial for supporting biodiversity and ecosystem integrity. Mature and old forests that have been minimally or never logged are currently providing high-quality drinking water for nearby communities.
Regrettably, the Forest Service is targeting these forests for logging in the Tiger-Mill sale, despite well-documented evidence that logging and roading harms water quality and watershed conditions.
As part of logging implementation, large and old trees are frequently logged adjacent to roads and along cable or haul corridors, and in landings. They’re also cut down to build roads or to accommodate log hauling activity. Particularly given the lack of public access and transparency in the Tiger-Mill sale, we are very concerned about what logging will actually look like on the ground should this project move forward.
Please visit Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project’s website to sign up for our Action Alerts and stay tuned for upcoming opportunities to submit public comments on the Tiger-Mill sale, and to help us work to stop or modify logging.
In addition to the Tiger-Mill sale, large trees and mature and old forests are under threat from logging in numerous additional timber sales on the Eastside.
Examples include the Austin, Cliff Knox, Ellis, Mill Creek, and Morgan Nesbit timber sales, and numerous others.
The Morgan Nesbit “Forest Resiliency Project” (Wallowa-Whitman NF), for example, proposes approximately 28,000 acres of commercial logging, including in mature and old mixed-conifer forests, the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, areas that have been proposed for Wilderness and Wild & Scenic River protections, never-logged and minimally-logged forests, and unroaded areas. The Morgan Nesbit sale is also adjacent to the Eagle Cap Wilderness.
The project area contains crucial wildlife corridors, and supports moose, elk, wolverine, salmon, and wolves. Mid-Columbia River steelhead are present within the project area, and will be at risk from logging proposed on steep slopes adjacent to creeks.
BMBP surveyed this enormous sale over the course of three field seasons. Unfortunately, logging threatens connectivity corridors, wildlife and stream habitats, stunning views, and quiet recreation values within this unique and beautiful area.
We’re especially concerned about the discrepancy between what the Forest Service calls “restoration” and “thinning” vs. the reality that we are seeing, far too often, on the ground.
Please visit Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project’s website to sign up for our Action Alerts and stay tuned for upcoming opportunities to help us challenge the Morgan Nesbit sale and other timber sales in the region.
Meet the new logging, same as the old logging.
In the Courts
Defending large trees: The Forest Service is increasingly targeting large trees and mature and old forests for logging. The agency’s efforts include their attempted roll back of Forest Plan protections for large trees.
In the last days of the Trump administration, the agency rolled back protections for large trees. These protections, known as the Eastside Screens, prohibited logging of large trees in most situations, and were put in place in the 1990’s in order to protect old growth dependent species, such as wildlife that depend on large trees and snags (standing dead trees). Large trees were defined as those = or > 21” diameter at breast height.
Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project filed litigation over the rollback of protections for large trees, as did several environmental groups in a separate lawsuit. The federal government attempted to get BMBP’s lawsuit, which we filed on the South Warner timber sale in the Fremont-Winema NF, dismissed. Federal Magistrate Judge Clarke in the Medford Division of the District of Oregon recommended that our case be allowed to continue, and his findings clearly reinforced BMBP’s key legal claims. BMBP’s litigation focuses on implementation of the new, weaker guidelines in the South Warner timber sale in the Fremont Winema National Forest.
In August, in the separate litigation brought by environmental groups including Greater Hells Canyon Council, WildEarth Guardians, Oregon Wild, and others, a federal magistrate recommended an order in favor of environmental groups. The magistrate judge, citing BMBP’s favorable ruling from Magistrate Judge Clarke, recommended that the illegal changes to the Eastside Screens be vacated, and ruled that the Forest Service should have conducted a much more in-depth and stringent environmental analysis. This is a huge victory, and cause for celebration! While the Forest Service may appeal the ruling, the magistrate’s recommendation includes strong support of the plaintiff’s legal arguments. Both cases are now awaiting a ruling from the District of Oregon.
The Forest Service’s illegal and ongoing use of loopholes to log large trees
While the Eastside Screens protections have been instrumental in preventing more widespread logging of large trees in the region, the agency has nevertheless repeatedly and inappropriately used a loophole— called site-specific Forest Plan amendments— to log large trees in recent years.
In 2014, Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project and Hells Canyon Preservation Council (now Greater Hells Canyon Council) won our litigation over the agency’s illegal and repeated use of these so-called site-specific Forest Plan amendments in the Snow Basin timber sale case. Most National Forests on the eastside subsequently stopped using site-specific Forest Plan Amendments. However, the Malheur National Forest has continued to illegally use these site-specific amendments to log large trees, despite the Snow Basin ruling.
Camp Lick sale, Malheur National Forest: The Camp Lick sale is one of several recent sales in which the Forest Service has continued to use site-specific Forest Plan Amendments to log large trees.
On October 19th, 2023, Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project filed a Notice of Appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in its ongoing litigation over the Camp Lick timber sale on the Malheur National Forest. BMBP initiated this lawsuit in July 2021 in an attempt to stop the Camp Lick timber sale from threatening the vulnerable Middle Fork John Day River watershed and further degrading large tree habitat in eastern Oregon. Following two years of litigation, Judge Immergut of the District of Oregon issued her final opinion and order on October 5, siding with the Forest Service on all claims.
The Camp Lick project is part of a suite of recent timber sales—including Big Mosquito, Magone, and Ragged Ruby among others—that are all situated within the John Day River watershed on the Malheur National Forest north of John Day, Oregon. With the exception of Magone, each of these timber sales utilize inappropriate site-specific amendments to the Malheur Forest Plan—the agency document that governs Forest Service activities within the forest—to allow for the targeted logging of large trees and mature and old growth forest.
Large trees and mature and old growth forests are rare in the region due to over a century of ecologically inappropriate management and over-logging. This deficit in the natural landscape of eastern Oregon and southeastern Washington has been recognized since at least the mid-1990s, when the Forest Service established standards prohibiting the logging of large tree greater than 21 inches in diameter at breast height and greatly restricting logging in old growth forest stands, known as the Eastside Screens. However, despite legal cases outlawing the practice, the Malheur National Forest has continued to exploit a loophole in these protections by using inappropriate site-specific amendments to contravene the Eastside Screens, further contributing to the deficit.
Additionally, heavy logging from this suite of projects in the John Day River watershed has deleterious effects on aquatic species and their habitat. The John Day River provides prime habitat for a number of iconic Oregon species, including Middle Columbia River (MCR) steelhead, a species listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Although the Forest Service claims that the Camp Lick timber sale will only impact only a non-significant percentage of aquatic habitat on the National Forest, that is only part of the story. Cumulatively, just the four recent timber sales mentioned above will adversely affect over 29.2% of suitable habitat for MCR steelhead on the Malheur National Forest as a whole.
Over the past two years, the Forest Service began implementing the Camp Lick timber sale on-the-ground north of John Day. During recent survey trips to document the post-logging effects of the Camp Lick project, BMBP found that what was sold to the public as “thinning” and “restoration” in the Camp Lick project’s environmental documentation all too often resembles clearcuts instead. By appealing the decision of the District of Oregon to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, BMBP is seeking to prevent any further damage to the watershed, the Malheur National Forest, and the broader Eastern Cacsades and Blue Mountains bioregion as a result of the improper use of site-specific amendments and failure to analyze the cumulative effects of this trend.
BMBP initiated litigation over the Camp Lick project in large part to uphold established Oregon law on the issues of site-specific amendments and cumulative effects analyses. These legal standards exist to ensure that the Forest Service practices reasoned decision making and provides the public with the full context of its management decisions, which isn’t a big ask. The District of Oregon’s opinion, as it stands, would allow the Forest Service to degrade some of the strongest ecological protections in the region in piecemeal fashion, without ever having to disclose the cumulative harm of those actions across the forest and across the region.
The Walton Lake timber sale, Ochoco National Forest: It’s with a heavy heart that we share the news that the US Forest Service announced it has likely started logging the old growth fir forest around Walton Lake.
On October 2nd, 2023, Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project filed a petition for rehearing with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the Walton Lake timber sale litigation. Underscoring this case’s importance for public access to government information, several national public interest organizations have sought leave to file amicus briefs in support of BMBP’s petition for rehearing. The Ninth Circuit has ordered the Forest Service to respond to BMBP’s rehearing petition before deciding if it will grant BMBP’s petition.
Walton Lake is located in central Oregon, northeast of Prineville. The lake is one of the most popular recreation areas on the Ochoco National Forest and is known for its old growth trees, abundant wildlife, and scenic beauty. The Walton Lake timber sale authorizes clearcutting of all the fir trees, including very large and old firs, on approximately 35 acres. The sale also includes an additional 43 acres of logging in mature and old forests that form the scenic backdrop of the lake and provide important habitat for wildlife.
Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project has fought to stop logging of the forest around Walton Lake since 2015. The Forest Service has repeatedly attempted to log this ecologically important forest in three related and virtually identical proposals over the past several years. BMBP and its dedicated attorneys successfully stopped the agency’s first two proposals to log around Walton Lake.
Sadly, in August of 2023, a Ninth Circuit panel sided with the Forest Service, giving the agency a green light to start logging around the lake. The Forest Service plans to begin logging early in October 2023, meaning that logging will likely begin before the case is able to be considered for rehearing.
The Ninth Circuit panel’s decision allowed the Forest Service to omit key information from the project record, including evidence that had been crucial in BMBP’s previous victories in getting the project withdrawn. BMBP’s request for panel rehearing or rehearing en banc (with the full Ninth Circuit) centers on the importance of public access to government documents. BMBP is asking that the Ninth Circuit uphold the long-standing legal precedents regarding public access to public documents—precedents that have long-recognized the crucial nature of public transparency in ensuring government accountability and democratic decision-making.
While the Forest Service has repeatedly characterized the Walton Lake timber sale as “thinning” to the public, BMBP’s initial lawsuit showed that an internal Forest Service document described the logging of the old growth fir forest as a “clearcut.” This Forest Service tactic isn’t limited to just the Walton Lake timber sale. For example, BMBP has documented recent examples of very heavy logging, including clearcutting and logging of large and old trees, within sale units characterized by the agency as “thinning” timber sales such as Camp Lick and Big Mosquito in the Malheur National Forest.
The Forest Service is using public safety as a guise for old growth logging in the Walton Lake sale. The agency claims that logging is needed to eliminate root rot that is supposedly creating a public safety problem, even though many of the targeted firs are not currently infected and are nowhere near the Walton Lake campsites or roads. The agency is planning to essentially clearcut the old growth and predominately fir forest around the lake because some of the firs have laminated root rot, as they have for decades. Laminated root rot is a native fungal disease that plays important ecological roles and helps create wildlife habitat.
Additionally, such heavy logging is unnecessary since the Forest Service already has the authority to fell legitimate roadside and campground hazard trees, and has been using this method to protect public safety for many years. BMBP has no objection to legitimate hazard tree felling, and BMBP’s legal challenges have never impeded the Forest Service’s ability to conduct legitimate hazard tree felling.
Movement building and public outreach
The Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (PIELC) took place in Eugene in spring of 2023. Karen Coulter, BMBP’s Director, was a panelist on the Field Surveying for Forest Defense panel. We also enjoyed tabling at the conference, with the help of some of our long-time volunteers.
The ReWilding Conference took place at Camp Sherman outside of Sisters, Oregon in May of 2023. Paula Hood, our Co-Director, was honored to be on the Forest Panel at the ReWilding Conference with Dr. Angela Sondenaa, the Precious Lands Project Leader for the Nez Perce Tribe. The conference was organized by the Wolf Welcome Committee and Western Watersheds Project, and was a huge success with nine speakers and approximately 200 people attending. You can see videos of presentations from the conference at https://www.youtube.com/@westernwatershedsproject2562.
Earthrise Field Trip: BMBP works closely with Earthrise Law Center on litigation to stop or modify timber sales in eastern Oregon and southeastern Washington. In July, Tom Buchele of Earthrise Law Center visited the Tiger-Mill sale in the Umatilla NF with a law student and BMBP’s staff attorney Austin Starnes. They visited the Tiger-Mill and Upper Touchet proposed sale units and talked to BMBP staff and volunteers to learn more about what has been happening this field season.
Lewis and Clark Law School, presentations and coordination: Austin Starnes, BMBP’s Staff Attorney, gave two presentations to students at Lewis and Clark law school regarding our litigation with Earthrise on recent and current timber sales. Austin has also been coordinating with Earthrise law students in preparation for the Forest Service’s upcoming Blue Mountains Forest Plan Revisions public comment periods.
Interviews and outreach work: Karen gave interviews to the Earth First! Journal: one on the history of the Earth First! Movement, and another about her recent book of biocentric poetry and what inspired it. Karen also gave an interview on the collaborative process with a University of Oregon masters student. Karen also attended an event held by Sisters Trail Alliance, with a visiting scientist who helped debunk numerous Forest Service narratives around fire. Karen also did a Zoom presentations for college students in an Ethnobotany class regarding how we use knowledge about plant species and field evidence to protect botanical diversity, sensitive and cultural use plants, and tree species diversity, and on her relationship with wild life and plants based on decades of field surveying with BMBP.
Street Roots interviewed Paula for their article “US Forest Service Illegally Removed Protections in PNW Forests”. The article comes in the wake of recent litigation, both from allied groups and from BMBP’s litigation to protect large trees. You can see the article at: https://www.streetroots.org/news/2023/09/20/judge-usfs-illegally-removed-protections-pnw-forests. Paula was also interviewed by the KBOO evening news about current threats to forests in eastern Oregon and southeastern Washington from logging, and our work to protect forests in the region.
BMBP published Action Alerts for federal rulemaking for National Forests, the Morgan Nesbit timber sale public comment period, and the Lemon Gulch Trail System comment period. We also put out press releases for the Ninth’s Circuit Court decision to allow logging at Walton Lake (Ochoco NF), BMBP’s appeal to the Ninth Circuit Decision on Walton Lake, and the Ninth Circuit decision to allow logging in the Camp Lick sale (Malheur NF).
Alliance and Coalition Work
Eastside Forest Coalition: BMBP continues to work closely with a coalition of several groups calling for the reinstatement of strong protections for large trees in eastern Oregon and southeastern Washington. The coalition includes Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project, Greater Hells Canyon Council, Oregon Wild, Central Oregon Landwatch, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, WildEarth Guardians, the Juniper Group of the Sierra Club, and Western Watersheds Project. BMBP is an active member of the steering team, and helps organize and co-lead the coalition.
The Pacific Northwest Forest Climate Alliance (PNWFCA), which BMBP helped found in 2019, includes over 87 grassroots forest and climate groups. The PNWFCA provides a structure for groups and individuals to share information and tackle a variety of forest and climate-related projects through working groups. We are excited to help strengthen activist networks and get needed work accomplished. BMBP is part of the steering committee, and co-leads the Field Survey working group. This year, the Field Survey group launched the “Logging on Public Lands Photo Repository” to showcase logging on federal public lands and raise awareness about the ways Federal agencies all too often mislead the public about the realities of forest management on the ground.
Ways to Get Involved
Volunteer in the field! BMBP is in the field from June through September every year— start planning now to volunteer in 2024! Volunteers are trained in native plant and wildlife identification, map and compass orienteering, and determining habitat conditions. We also teach volunteers about basic environmental policies, ecological issues, and current threats to forests in eastern Oregon. Most of our time in the field is spent in the forest, documenting conditions within proposed timber sales or grazing allotments. We prefer interns to volunteer for at least one week in the field. No prior experience is necessary. Call us with at least two weeks notice and let us know when you want to come out!
We also need volunteer help with computer-based work throughout the year, such as public outreach and messaging, comment writing, fundraising, event tabling, and more.
Fundraising
We are deeply grateful to everyone who has donated to support our ecological protection work. Many heartfelt thanks to the Anne K. Millis Fund through Oregon Community Foundation; the Astrov Fund; the Burning Foundation; the Charlotte Martin Foundation; the Clif Family Foundation; the Faegan Donor Advised Fund through Social Justice Northwest; Fund for Wild Nature; and Lush Charitable Giving.
Special thanks to Jen Wilder for her help with fundraising, and to tattoo artist Dio Dimitri for holding a months-long flash tattoo fundraiser with amazing native plant designs. We are also grateful to Japanese Auto for keeping our vehicles safely maintained, and to the Broadway Minuteman Press in Portland for printing our reports.
Huge thanks also to all of the volunteers and donors who helped with our Annual Benefit, and to Burnt Valley musicians for playing incredible music at the event. Special thanks also to Mike Horner, Mary Sharp, Kelley O’Hanley, Brenna, Brittany, Merlin, Bramble, Alex, Cory, and all of the wonderful volunteers who helped with the benefit, and to Green Anchors for hosting us at their beautiful event space. Thank you to everyone who donated to our auction, and to everyone who came out for the event!
Many thanks to all of the generous donors who supported our work! Please donate to help support BMBP’s work defending forests in eastern Oregon.
BMBP’s work to protect ecological diversity in eastern Oregon would not be possible without donations from our supporters. Any amount, large or small, goes a long way. We need your help to pay our staff; pursue litigation against destructive projects; and field survey proposed timber sales during our summer field season.
BMBP’s field surveys are the foundation of our effective forest protection work. Our on the ground knowledge has been key to many of our success with halting or modifying logging across many thousands of acres over the years. However, training and hosting volunteers in the field and surveying thousands of acres of proposed sales every year is a major undertaking—we need your support to help fund our field season and forest protection work.
$10,000-$20,000 helps pay for our four staff members
$5,000 helps cover transportation costs to and from the field, including gas, truck repairs, and insurance
$2,000 helps cover legal expenses for a lawsuit to stop a timber sale or toxic herbicide use
$1,000 helps cover day to day expenses (office supplies, phone costs, & more)
$500 helps pay for postage costs
$100 pays for field surveying equipment
$25-50 subsidizes food for volunteers in the field.
We are also in need of in-kind donations such as non-perishable food for the field (nut butters, tea and coffee, energy bars, etc), and field equipment including diameter measuring tapes, digital cameras, and GPS units. If you have a four-wheel drive truck you wish to donate which can handle Forest Service roads and is in good working condition, please contact us at 510-715-6238 or paula@bluemountainsbiodiversityproject.org.
Please consider becoming a monthly donor, including BMBP in your long-term giving plans, or leaving a bequest to BMBP. You can donate online at: bluemountainsbiodiversityproject.org/donate.
Send checks to our Eugene office at: Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project, Eugene Office, 1560 Chambers St., Eugene, Oregon 97402.
Send in-kind donations to: Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project, 27803 Williams Lane, Fossil, OR 97830. You can also contact us at 541-385-9167.
Thank you for being a part of making this work happen!
In Memoriam
We lost two people very dear to our hearts at BMBP this year.
Drea, Remembered
Drea was a volunteer with Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project. She passed away in the spring of 2023, near the Willamette River. We miss her bright, inquisitive mind, her passion for plants, and her impish grin and sparkling eyes when she was happy. It is a shock to us that she is no longer with us, and we miss her greatly. We published a photo of Drea in a Ponderosa pine fire scar in our last annual report, and we’ve including it here as well. We encourage her friends to share their memories of Drea in the forest, where she will always be in our hearts.
Carolina Hood, Paula’s mom
As Mami to Paula Hood, BMBP’s Co-Director, Carolina spent many hours helping edit countless BMBP documents over the years. Her volunteer help was invaluable, particularly in Paula’s first years at BMBP.
Carolina passed away in Eugene in April of 2023, followed only a few months later by Paula’s father passing away in Louisiana. Carolina is survived by her daughters Paula and Hope, and her grandchild Camilo. Her life was defined by adventure and exploration. Born on a farm on the coast of Ecuador, she spent her formative years there and then lived in the United States. Over the years, she spent time traveling throughout Central America, from Mexico to Panama, and also visited England and Spain. She will be forever missed.
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