Press Release: Conservation Groups Fight to Save the Wild and Scenic River Canyon from Commercial Lo
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 4, 2018
Darilyn Parry Brown; Executive Director; 541-963-3950 x 700; darilyn@hellscanyon.org
Veronica Warnock; Conservation Director; 541-963-3950 x 701; veronica@hellscanyon.org
CONSERVATION GROUPS FIGHT TO SAVE WILD AND SCENIC RIVER CANYON FROM COMMERCIAL LOGGING
Greater Hells Canyon Council and Oregon Wild file Notice of Appeal
Conservation non-profits Greater Hells Canyon Council (GHCC) and Oregon Wild filed suit against the United States Forest Service in 2017 to halt commercial logging in the Wild and Scenic Lostine River Canyon in northeastern Oregon.
Though billed as a public safety project, the project is largely composed of commercial logging and will remove 4 million board feet from just 2,100 acres. The commercial units follow 11 miles of road along the Wild and Scenic Lostine River to its termination at Two Pan trailhead, and extend to the very boundary of the Eagle Cap Wilderness.
“We believe our case is strong and remain committed to protecting the Wild and Scenic Lostine River Canyon,” said Darilyn Parry Brown, Executive Director of GHCC. “We have never opposed the true public safety aspects of this project. But the heavy industrial logging will not improve public safety in the Lostine.”
While U.S. District Judge Michael Simon ruled in favor of the Forest Service, the conservation groups are continuing with their case. They filed a Notice of Appeal with the District Court on Tuesday, September 4.
The project was designed through a Categorical Exclusion, which exempts the Forest Service from performing meaningful analysis of the environmental impacts of the logging, including the impacts to rare and sensitive species known to reside in the canyon. GHCC and Oregon Wild contend that any logging within a Wild and Scenic River canyon surrounded by wilderness absolutely deserves a rigorous environmental analysis before any logging occurs.
“Go visit the Lostine Canyon now,” said Parry Brown. “Go into one of the marked units. Almost everything except the few trees with orange paint will be removed. If this logging moves forward, the forest will be irreversibly damaged.”
###
Greater Hells Canyon Council was founded in 1967. They seek to connect, protect, and restore the Greater Hells Canyon Region. www.hellscanyon.org
