Site icon Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project

2024 Annual Report

Frances with old growth Ponderosa (Upper Bear Lake sale, Malheur NF)

Kara measuring an old growth fir with woodpecker forage in the Suffering Springs sale (Wallowa-Whitman NF)

Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project’s (BMBP’s) forest defense work in eastern Oregon and southeastern Washington is vital for protecting wildlife, clean water, and carbon storage in the region.

BMBP’s work would not be possible without our community of volunteers, supporters, and allies. We’re deeply grateful to everyone who has helped us continue our work. Thank you for your support in defending forests, streams, and the climate in eastside forests!

Our communities, networks, and alliances are the last line of defense. As we brace for the next administration’s onslaught of efforts to further weaken environmental laws and protections, we need your help to effectively defend forests.

Now more than ever, it’s imperative that we work together to build strong alliances and expand existing networks. This will help us stand together in the coming years to defend forests, the climate, and each other. Join BMBP’s community to help defend mature and old forests, streamside habitats, and unique ecosystems in eastside forests.

Please consider donating, volunteering, and helping get the word out about BMBP’s work to protect forests! Sign up for action alerts at https://bluemountainsbiodiversityproject.org/. To find out more about volunteer opportunities during our summer field season, contact Karen at 541-385-9167. For more information about computer-based volunteer opportunities, contact Paula Hood at paula@bluemountainsbiodiversityproject.org.

Sky with old growth fir trees in a never-logged sale unit in the Tiger Mill sale (Umatilla NF)

BMBP’s field surveys have helped to save many thousands of acres of forests. BMBP has a long history of effectively using the information we collect in the field to save forests from logging. Field surveying is the foundation of BMBP’s forest protection work. We document on-the-ground forest conditions, such as the presence of high-quality wildlife habitats, mature and old forests, sensitive streamside riparian habitats, fish and water quality concerns, and more. We use our field survey data to pressure the Forest Service to drop or modify logging, and to inform our litigation.

Our work is important to protect habitats for numerous species, including many that rely on mature and old forests, mixed-conifer forests, and cold-water streams. American marten, Northern goshawk, Canada lynx, Bull trout, as well as numerous bats, woodpeckers, owls, and many others benefit from our forest protection work.

We cover a lot of ground every year, and we need your help to ensure our work can continue! Every summer, BMBP’s staff and volunteers are in the field from the beginning of June through the end of September, surveying thousands of acres of forests within proposed timber sales. BMBP’s survey work yields valuable data, unique field-based perspectives, and important connections with nature for the volunteers we host. However, our extensive survey work requires support from our communities and donors.

You can make a one-time donation or sign up to become a recurring donor on our website at: https://bluemountainsbiodiversityproject.org/donate/. Thank you!

Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project’s work and accomplishments in 2024:

BMBP volunteers in the Mill Creek timber sale (Ochoco NF)

Acres saved:

BMBP uses the field survey data we collect, and our on-the-ground familiarity with proposed timber sales, in our comments and negotiations with the Forest Service. Over the years, we have gotten tens of thousands of acres of proposed logging dropped or modified through using our survey data in our comments and negotiations.

For example, BMBP extensively field surveyed the Mill Creek “Dry Forest Restoration Project” (timber sale) in the Ochoco NF, and documented forest conditions in commercial sale units across this large timber sale. In our public comments and objections to the Forest Service, we highlighted areas we documented that included mature and old forests, important wildlife habitats, and other ecologically sensitive areas. We submitted our high priority requests for sale units to drop during the public comment process, many of which were ultimately dropped or modified by the agency during the objection resolution process. We put out action alerts to inform the public about this sale, and encouraged them to submit comments to the Forest Service. We also coordinated strategies and shared our information such as summaries of our on-the-ground field surveys with allied organizations.

Due to pressure from BMBP, our allies, and the public, the Forest Service dropped all planned logging of large trees (over 20 inches in diameter at breast height) in the Mill Creek timber sale. This timber sale includes over 8,000 acres of commercial logging. Also as a result of BMBP and allies’ objections, the Forest Service dropped hundreds of acres of logging planned on steep slopes and undeveloped lands (with no or minimal logging), and in areas important for wildlife and streams. For example, the agency agreed to drop 352 acres of commercial logging around the geologically unique and botanically diverse Steins Pillar area, and 884 acres in undeveloped forests (forests with no or minimal roads or past logging, or other human-caused disturbances). They also agreed to drop commercial logging within streamside buffers for fish-bearing and perennial streams and some intermittent streams and wetlands. The agency also agreed to increase the amount of forest area excluded from logging within sale units to 10-15%, with exclusions based on considerations such as snag concentrations, wet areas, sensitive plants or nests, natural tree clumping, and micro-sites.

Dee with a large fir (South Warner sale, Fremont-Winema NF; Photo by David Tvedt)

In the South Warner timber sale (Fremont-Winema NF), the agency dropped planned large tree logging in this sale. The agency’s cancellation of large tree logging is a result of separate lawsuits filed by BMBP and environmental allies.

In the last days of the first Trump administration, the Forest Service illegally rolled back protections for large trees established by the Eastside Screens without adequate environmental analysis and by circumventing the public commenting and objection process. These rollbacks would have allowed the Forest Service to not only log larger trees, but do so with less public accountability.

BMBP filed litigation over the rollback of protections for large trees, as did several environmental groups in a separate lawsuit. After favorable rulings in the two cases by two separate federal magistrate judges, the District of Oregon declared the 2021 Eastside Screens Amendment illegal and reinstated the original protections on March 29, 2024. Because of the work BMBP and its allied environmental organizations, there will be no large trees logged as part of the South Warner timber sale, nor or in any Forest Service timber sale in the Blue Mountains National Forests under the illegal 2021 Eastside Screens amendment.

Relic and Raines in the Tiger Mill sale (Umatilla NF)

In the field:

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 and objection resolution negotiations on timber sales and livestock grazing allotments. BMBP’s field season runs from the beginning of June through September.

Thanks to our volunteers and supporters, we accomplished our goals to survey proposed major timber sales in our work area during the 2024 field season— despite challenges due to numerous large wildfires and extreme heatwaves.

Eliot with fire-scarred Ponderosa pine (Suffering Springs, Wallowa-Whitman NF)

Timber sales surveyed:

We covered a lot of ground during the field season! During the 2024 field season, we surveyed the Boundary and Upper Bear Lake timber sales (Malheur NF), the Suffering Springs sale (Wallowa-Whitman NF), and the Tiger Mill sale (Umatilla NF).

The Tiger Mill sale, at 6,632 acres of proposed commercial logging and another 5,806 acres of non-commercial thinning, is one of the the most concerning of the timber sales we are monitoring. Much of this sale is located on extremely steep slopes above creeks, many of which are fish bearing, and proposes logging in never-logged and remote backcountry areas. It also includes logging within the Mill Creek Inventoried Roadless Area, the Mill Creek Municipal Watershed, and in streamside buffers. The Forest Service did not allow BMBP entry into the restricted Municipal Watershed, and so we were unable to survey those ecologically sensitive areas where the agency is proposing actions. The Forest Service admits that the Tiger Mill project area encompasses 87% never logged forest, 72% Mill Creek Inventoried Roadless Area, 85% very steep slopes, 60% moist forest, and 47% multi-strata forest with large trees, all of which we should prioritize for protection.

Frances with scorched old growth fir tree in the Upper Bear Lake sale (Malheur NF)

The other sales we surveyed include the Suffering Springs sale, which includes 10,189 acres of commercial logging and logging within streamside buffers. The Upper Bear Lake sale includes 15,500 acres of commercial logging, and also proposes logging of large trees and some logging within streamside buffers. The Boundary sale is 27,297 acres of commercial logging, including logging of large trees. The Boundary sale is on hold due to recent fire within the project area.

This year we hosted 21 volunteers, including 11 new and 10 returning volunteers. New volunteers include  Lemon, Eliot, Arwen, Kai, Raines, Nico, Sky, Odie, Stag, Frances, and Kat. Returning volunteers include Jack, Liza, Torr, Kara, Cooper, Gambit, Relic, Ayala, Karl, and Brenna.

We are grateful to welcome Ella Hackett, our Summer Intern Campaign Assistant, back to BMBP during the field season. Ella provided invaluable help in the field, support for forest protection campaigns, and event organizing.

White-headed woodpecker (Upper Bear Lake sale, Malheur NF)

Public comments and objections:

BMBP engaged in the public comment process for eleven timber sales, a wild horse management plan, and an herbicide use plan. We also submitted comments on two regional and national planning proposals affecting public lands. BMBP is currently tracking approximately 30 agency projects in our work area.

During the grant year, we submitted comments on the following timber sales: the Upper Bear Lake and Boundary sales (Malheur NF), the North Fork Crooked River, Lower Bridge Fuels Reduction, Jackson Watershed Fuel Break sale (Ochoco NF), the Top Road Fuels Break sale (Umatilla NF), the Baker City Watershed Fuels Management Project, Huckleberry Defensible Fuel Profile Zone (DFPZ), the West Wall DFPZ, and Suffering Springs sale (Wallowa-Whitman NF).

Raines with an old growth fir log in the Suffering Springs sale (Wallowa-Whitman NF)

Additionally, BMBP commented on the regionally-focused Northwest Forest Plan and, in cooperation with Earthrise Law Center, we submitted comments on the Forest Service’s National Old Growth Amendment. We also submitted comments on the Categorical Exclusion plan for the herbicide Indaziflam. We are currently working on comments on the Morgan Nesbit sale (Wallowa-Whitman NF).

BMBP submitted objections to the Murderers Creek Wild Horse Joint Management Area/Heard Management Area Plan (Malheur NF), the Mill Creek timber sale (Ochoco NF), and the Tiger Mill timber sale (Umatilla NF). We are currently working on an objection to the Baker City Watershed timber sale (Wallowa-Whitman NF). We attended agency meetings for all submitted objections.

Other agency meetings: 

In addition to numerous objection resolution and negotiation meetings with the Forest Service, we attended three meetings on the Blue Mountains Forest Plan Revisions (one in-person in Baker and two virtual) and a field trip to the West Wall Defensible Fuels Profile Zone project area.

A running creek in the South Warner project area on the Fremont-Winema National Forest.

In the Courts:

The South Warner sale (Fremont-Winema NF): In early 2024, BMBP was successful in our legal efforts to preserve the strongest ecological protections for large trees in eastern Oregon and southeastern Washington. In the last days of the first Trump administration, the Forest Service illegally rolled back protections for large trees established by the Eastside Screens without adequate environmental analysis and by circumventing the public commenting and objection process. These rollbacks would have allowed the Forest Service to not only log larger trees, but do so with less public accountability.

Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project sued the Forest Service over the rollback of protections for large trees in October 2022, as did several environmental groups in a separate lawsuit. After BMBP obtained an initial favorable ruling on a key legal claim from one federal magistrate judge, the ruling was used to help other groups obtain an even broader ruling in their favor from a second magistrate judge. Then the District of Oregon upheld both rulings and declared the 2021 Eastside Screens Amendment illegal and reinstated the original protections on March 29, 2024. Because of the work of BMBP and its allied environmental organizations, there will be no large trees logged as part of the South Warner timber sale, nor in any timber sale in the Blue Mountains National Forests under the illegal 2021 Eastside Screens amendment.

Preserving the Eastside Screens is of vital importance to the continued viability of wildlife and biodiversity in the National Forests of eastern Oregon and southeastern Washington. Recent studies by local scientists have shown that these large trees represent only 3% of all trees on these forests. These large trees, including large Grand fir that the Forest Service targets in many of its “landscape restoration” timber sales, provide necessary and rare habitat for native species such as Pileated woodpeckers and American marten, among many others.

Although BMBP and its allies managed to secure these protections for the time being, the Eastside Screens are once again at risk of being removed from the Malheur, Umatilla, and Wallowa-Whitman National Forests’ Forest Plans as the Forest Service continues its efforts to revise the Blue Mountains Forest Plans. BMBP needs your support to continue to fight for these ecological protections.

Walton Lake prior to logging, with mature and old mixed-conifer forests surrounding the lake

Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project takes our case on  the Walton Lake sale to the Supreme Court

On September 13th, 2024, BMBP filed a petition for certiorari in the Supreme Court of the United States in its ongoing litigation of the Walton Lake timber sale on the Ochoco National Forest. The Forest Service improperly omitted documents from the public record, further eroding public oversight of agency actions, and so we are appealing to defend public transparency and agency accountability.

The Forest Service has, unfortunately, already logged the old-growth Grand fir around Walton Lake. However, our legal battle continues in an effort to prevent the Forest Service from excluding critical information from public access in the future. BMBP believes there remains an important legal claim that deserves the attention of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Large fir trees at Walton Lake, prior to logging.

The Walton Lake timber sale authorized clearcutting of all fir trees, including large and old-growth firs, on  approximately 35 acres that form the scenic backdrop of the lake and provide important and increasingly rare wildlife habit. The sale also includes additional logging, including more large firs, in other areas of the popular recreation site. The Forest Service cited safety concerns as the justification for logging large old-growth firs, many of which were perfectly healthy. For decades, the agency has been able to address safety issues by removing individual hazard trees within the developed recreation area, however almost none of the logging authorized in this timber sale occurred in this area.

BMBP has been fighting to stop destructive logging at Walton Lake since 2015, with legal representation provided by Jesse Buss and Bridgett Chevallier at Willamette Law Group and Tom Buchele at Earthrise Law Center at Lewis & Clark Law School. BMBP and its dedicated attorneys successfully stopped the first two iterations of the Walton Lake timber sale, but unfortunately, the Forest Service’s third attempt to force through this unnecessary and ecologically destructive logging was ultimately successful. The Ninth Circuit’s  ruling allowed logging to move forward, in part ruling that the Forest Service is allowed to withhold deliberative documents from the timber sale’s administrative record. Four appellate judges issued a seventeen-page dissent from the denial of rehearing arguing that the opinion’s treatment of the scope of the administrative record, contrary to U.S. Supreme Court and Ninth Circuit case law, would allow federal agencies like the Forest Service to “sanitize the record … severely curtailing judicial review.”

Logging at Walton Lake; image from online news report from Central Oregon Daily.

The petition asks the Supreme Court to review this key issue regarding the administrative record and to consider whether the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”)—a key legal tool in ensuring federal agencies remain accountable to the public—allows the Forest Service and other federal agencies to exclude highly relevant deliberative materials from the record. “A rule that allows agencies to unilaterally excise documents from the record because they are deliberative creates a one-way ratchet that undermines effective judicial review,” the petition says. By allowing the Forest Service to withhold documents that are part of the full record based on an assertion of privilege, the Ninth Circuit ensured that neither the courts nor BMBP could verify whether those omitted documents were relevant, let alone whether they supported the agency’s action. Because litigating Forest Service timber sales rely wholly on the record produced by the Forest Service—no outside evidence is permitted—getting this legally incorrect Ninth Circuit ruling reversed by the Supreme Court is of the utmost importance not just for BMBP, but indeed for almost every plaintiff challenging a federal agency decision.

In addition to Tom, Jesse, and Bridgett, BMBP secured additional representation from the law firm Jenner &  Block and its Supreme Court and Appellate Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School. The Jenner & Block team includes Partners Matthew Hellman and Michael Brody, Associate Andy Osborne, Law Clerk Donovan Hicks, and Senior Paralegal Cheryl Olson. BMBP would like to thank the Jenner & Block team for their invaluable advice and services in filing BMBP’s first ever petition at the Supreme Court.

Photos of recent logging in the Camp Lick timber sale (Malheur NF). The Forest Service designated these sale units as “Stand Improvement Commercial Thinning”.

Camp Lick timber sale (Malheur NF): BMBP filed an appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court in the Camp Lick case, in our ongoing fight to protect large and old-growth trees and aquatic habitat for redband trout and ESA-threatened Middle Columbia River steelhead. At the Pioneer Courthouse in Portland, Tom Buchele, attorney and clinical professor at the Earthrise Law Center at Lewis and Clark Law School, argued BMBP’s case in front of a three-judge panel for the Ninth Circuit. Unfortunately, the panel issued an unpublished opinion siding with the Forest Service in November of 2024.

The Camp Lick sale is a just one of a series of Forest Service timber sales on the Malheur National Forest adversely affecting aquatic habitat for imperiled Middle Columbia River steelhead and targeting large trees for logging. Although the Forest Service claims that the Camp Lick timber sale will impact only a small and non-significant percentage of aquatic habitat on the National Forest, that is only part of the story. Cumulatively, just a handful of the many recent timber sales will adversely affect over 29.2% of suitable habitat for Middle Columbia River steelhead on the Malheur National Forest. BMBP also challenged the agency’s illegal use of site-specific Forest Plan amendments as a loophole to sidestep protections for large trees.

Photo of recent logging in the Camp Lick timber sale (Malheur NF). The Forest Service also designated this sale unit as “Stand Improvement Commercial Thinning”.

Over the past three years, the Forest Service began implementing the Camp Lick timber sale. 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 resembled clearcuts instead. After years of fighting this timber sale in the courts, we are heartbroken that the agency’s logging and abuse of discretion will continue.

More examples of “restoration” logging that, in reality, include clearcuts and logging of old growth trees are far too frequent and widespread across eastside National Forests:

 

Public outreach:

Group photo from our October event in Sisters, Oregon

The Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (PIELC) took place in Eugene in spring of 2024. Karen Coulter, our Director, was a panelist on the Forest Defense is Climate Defense panel, which included representatives from Cascadia Wildlands, Bark, and Umpqua Watersheds. Paula Hood, our Co-Director, was a panelist on the Threats and Solutions to Clean Drinking Water panel alongside co-panelists from Oregon Rural Action, North Coast Communities for Watershed Protection, and Oregon Wild.

Media Interviews: Karen was interviewed by the Central Oregon Daily News during BMBP’s field trip to the Green Ridge sale as part of our event in Sisters, Oregon in October. Karen also gave an interview about BMBP’s work by the local Portland radio station KBOO on Earth Day. Paula was interviewed for the KBOO evening news program about the Forest Service’s current Blue Mountains Forest Plan Revision process and what it will mean for eastside forests. Paula and Karen were interviewed about the Green Ridge timber sale in the Deschutes NF by the Nugget Newspaper, a local paper in Sisters, Oregon. Karen was interviewed for the podcast Our Public Lands.

Yellow-rumped warbler in the Suffering Springs sale (Wallowa-Whitman NF)

Workshops, speaking engagements, field trips, and more: BMBP, in cooperation with Western Watersheds Project, held a multi-day event in Sisters, Oregon at Left Coast Lodge in October. We gave presentations about our field survey work and findings, agency management trends, and the Forest Service’s current Blue Mountains Forest Plan Revision process. We also hosted a field trip to the Green Ridge timber sale.

Karen gave a presentation in Quilcene, Washington on Wildfire, Forest Management and Climate Change. She also gave workshops on map and compass orienteering, and environmental laws and legal forest defense at the Lost Sierra Forest Camp in the Las Plumas NF. Karen and volunteers attended a rally to bring attention to threats to nearby forests from the Green Ridge timber sale in Sisters,  Oregon in June, which BMBP co-sponsored along with Wild Ecosystems Alliance.

Ephraim Payne and Michael Sherman of Fire+Bird Films, interviewing Karen Coulter, BMBP’s Director, in the Big Mosquito timber sale in the Malheur NF.

Paula gave a training on field survey methods and protocols in the Wallowa-Whitman NF to staff members at Greater Hells Canyon Council. The training was a lovely opportunity to camp with colleagues and strategize about joining forces on shared work.

Paula is coordinating with Fire+Bird Films, to create a short video about threats to forests and streams from logging in eastern Oregon. Filming started in 2024. If  we are able to raise adequate funding, we hope to include additional footage and interviews. Please donate to BMBP to help us produce this video!

BMBP’s Staff Attorney, Austin Starnes, gave a presentation to Earthrise law students on BMBP’s work. He also coordinated work with Earthrise Law Center on the National Old Growth Amendment proposed by the Forest Service.

Dr. Angela Sondenaa, Siletz Tribal member and member of the Federal Advisory Committee for the Northwest Forest Plan, speaking at the June Rally for Mature and Old Forests. The rally was organized by members of the PNW Forest Climate Alliance, including BMBP.

Alliance-building:

The Pacific Northwest Forest Climate Alliance (PNWFCA), which BMBP helped found in 2019, includes over 90 grassroots forest and climate groups. The PNWFCA provides a structure for groups and individuals to share information and tackle  forest and climate-related projects. We are excited to help strengthen activist networks and get joint work accomplished. BMBP is part of the steering team. Examples of our work with the alliance this year:

Longtime BMBP volunteer Brenna, at the June Rally for Mature and Old Forests

The Eastside Forest Coalition: BMBP continues to work closely with a coalition of several groups working to protect forests 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, and the Juniper Group of the Sierra Club. BMBP is an active member of the steering team, and helps organize and co-lead the coalition.

Karen with fire-scarred pine snag in the Upper Bear Lake sale (Malheur NF)

Challenges:

Intense heat and landscape-scale wildfires were widespread and persistent challenges during this year’s field season. The logistics of travel and coordination with volunteers became more challenging, which resulted in BMBP hosting slightly fewer volunteers this season.

Our Director, Karen, had her land directly affected by the Lone Rock fire, which burned down the BMBP storage buildings on her property. Karen had to evacuate her cats, and was unable to return home for over two weeks. Miraculously, Karen’s strawbale home and her kitchen trailer were still standing after the fire. Most of her trees were also spared, particularly the mature and old trees.

Karen is no stranger to living in an area with stand-replacement wildfire. 28 years ago, she and BMBP’s co-founder, Asante, lost their home and most of their possessions to fire, as well as some of their goats and half their chickens. Karen and friends built her new home as a strawbale structure, which escaped the fire this year.

This October, BMBP volunteers attended a work party on Karen’s land, and helped erect a metal structure to replace office and storage space. Volunteers included Gearhart, Shade, Ruby, Ella, Chris, Stevia, Bramble. Strong community support continues to be essential to our work, especially in challenging times.

Karen and Ella with BMBP volunteers Eliot, Kara, Torr, Kai, Arwen, & Liza (Suffering Springs sale, Wallowa-Whtiman NF)

Fundraising:

We are deeply grateful to everyone who has donated to support our ecological protection work. Many heartfelt thanks to the Anne K. Millis Donor Advised Fund through Oregon Community Foundation, Astrov Fund, Burning Foundation; Charlotte Martin Foundation, Clif Family Foundation; Fund for Wild Nature; and Lush Charitable Giving. We also want to thank all of the generous individual donors who supported our work.

Many thanks also to Brian Frank for his help with our accounting and bookkeeping, to Japanese Auto Repair for ensuring the maintenance and safety of our vehicles, and to Minuteman Press at Lloyd Center for their help with printing our work reports and promotional flyers.

Dancers from Espacio Flamenco school in Portland, enjoying the gardens at Green Anchors at BMBP’s Annual Benefit. Photo by Espacio Flamenco.

BMBP’s Annual Benefit: BMBP held our Annual Benefit in August in Portland. Thanks to everyone who joined us for a lovely evening or donated online! This year, the event featured flamenco dance and music performances from Espacio Flamenco school in Portland. We were honored to have them share their incredible talent and vibrant art with us. The event included a presentation about BMBP’s work, a silent auction, and delicious food.

Thank you to everyone who donated to the silent auction, including Mountain Shop for their ski rental and adventure bundle donation, and to Wanderlust Tours, Left Coast Lodge, and Suttle Lake Lodge for adventures and lodge stays on the eastside! Huge thanks to small local businesses including Clinton Street Theatre, Creo Chocolate, Deep Woods Distillery, Handmade Gardens, Hollywood Theatre, Mama and Hapa’s Zero Waste Store, and Portland Nursery. We were also honored to receive donations from talented local artists, including Asante Riverwind, Camilo Velasco, Rodger Peet, and Just Seeds Art Collective, Helios Heartstar, Microcosm Publishing, Ophidian Rouge jewelry, and Wildcraft Studio. We also received fabulous donations of fruit pies from Tom Buchele, experiences such as a falconry experience from Max Yield Falconry, mending repairs, and more!

Dancers from Espacio Flamenco performing at BMBP’s Annual Benefit

Special thanks to Kelly O’Hanley, Ella Hackett, Mike Horner, and Brenna Sahatjian for their hard work helping to organize our Annual Benefit! Many thanks also to the volunteers who helped staff the event including Alex, Tom, Kima, Cory and Colette, Bramble, Susan, and Mary. We are grateful to Green Anchors for sharing their beautiful outdoor space!

Fundraisers throughout the year: Thanks to long-time supporters Jen Wilder and Dio Dmitri for holding fundraisers for BMBP! Jen donated the proceeds from yoga classes, and talented tattoo artist Dio donated a portion of their proceeds to BMBP during selected tattoo promotion periods.

Please donate to help support BMBP’s forest  defense work!

Mule deer in the Suffering Springs sale 
(Wallowa-Whitman NF)

Every dollar goes a long way toward helping us engage in effective ecological protection work. With your help, we can continue our wildlands defense work.

Please give what you can— donations both small and large help keep our work going!

$10,000-$20,000 helps pay for our three staff members
$5,000 helps cover transportation costs, 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 telephone communications
$500 helps pay for photo printing or copying
$250 helps cover postage costs
$100 pays for field surveying equipment
$25-50 subsidizes food for volunteers

You can donate online at: https://bluemountainsbiodiversityproject.org/donate. Please consider

Ruffed grouse in the Suffering Springs sale (Wallowa-Whitman NF)

becoming a monthly donor, including BMBP in your long-term giving plans, or leaving a bequest to BMBP.

Send checks to our Eugene office at:
Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project
Eugene Office
1560 Chambers St.
Eugene, Oregon 97402

To volunteer, contact us at 541-385-9167 (be sure to leave your name and phone number).

Thank you for supporting BMBP’s work to defend forests on public lands in Eastern Oregon!

The Tiger Mill sale (Umatilla NF), with Mill Creek and surrounding mature and old mixed-conifer forests, natural openings, and complex topography. The mature and old forests in this sale, many of which have had little or no previous logging, are essential for supplying clean water and healthy stream habitats. (Photo taken by drone by Dr. Trygve Steen 2023)
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