Bear Creek logged in violation of BMBP’s objection resolution agreement with the USFS

BMBP has been fighting hard to ensure that streamside logging does not gain a foothold on National Forests in our region, and to make sure that the Forest Service is following existing laws and protections.

As part of our efforts, we have been closely tracking commercial and non-commercial logging projects along streams, field surveying dozens of creeks where the Forest Service is proposing streamside logging, and conducting ongoing research on existing water quality data and scientific literature.

In 2018, our field survey work uncovered breaches by the Forest Service of BMBP’s written agreement with the agency regarding streamside logging along Bear Creek in the Big Mosquito timber sale (Malheur NF). The Forest Service had agreed to fell trees only for the purposes of placing them into Bear Creek, and to consult with BMBP in the field before the work took place. The Forest Service did not adhere to this agreement. We are working to ensure accountability regarding this issue and similar issues. You can see pictures of Bear Creek after noncommercial logging as well as pictures of the creek before noncommercial logging.. You can read our letter to the Forest Service here: Bear Creek Questions Concerns Oct 2018

The noncommercial logging in streamside corridors in the Big Mosquito timber sale, which Bear Creek is part of, was done using the silvicultural prescription that was later copy and pasted into the Blue Mountains Forest Partners Collaborative Group’s “Riparian Zones of Agreement”, which was overwhelmingly approved by the collaborative group. The noncommercial logging along Bear Creek was, according the the Forest Service, the ‘lightest touch’ possible.