A number of conservation groups sued the federal Bureau of Land Management two years ago over a new vegetation management plan covering southwest Oregon, called the Integrated Vegetation Management Plan. They argued the plan illegally authorized the logging of old-growth forests.
A U.S. District Court judge in Medford agreed to the ruling by a previous judge nearly a year ago.
George Sexton is the conservation director for KS Wild, one of the groups that filed the lawsuit. He said they’ve been trying to get the BLM to focus less on producing as much timber as possible.
“If they could lean into forest resiliency and collaboration, they would still be logging; It's just that logging wouldn't be the sole driver of everything they do," Sexton said.
The Medford BLM did not respond to requests for comment.
The agency can still appeal the ruling if they want to. Otherwise, Sexton said the two sides will get together to figure out how the government can be in compliance with the judge’s ruling.
“You can do small diameter fuels treatments," Sexton said. "You can do restoration thinning, but you can't go in there and just do clear cuts that are primarily designed to produce timber volume.”
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This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.
