SALMON ADVOCATES GO TO COURT TO KEEP WOPR DEAD

Portland, Ore.:  Wild salmon advocates filed papers today in federal district court in Washington, D.C. to preserve the Obama administration’s decision to withdraw the controversial Western Oregon Plan Revisions (WOPR), a Bush administration  plan that would have opened thousands of acres of ancient forests and salmon streams to clear cut logging in southwestern Oregon.

Conservationists first challenged WOPR in federal court in Portland, but in July Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar withdrew the plan, calling it “legally indefensible” and based on “clear legal error.”  Nonetheless, on September 8, the timber industry filed suit to challenge the withdrawal decision and, among other things, request that court reinstate the controversial WOPR.

The salmon advocates requested permission to join the timber companies’ lawsuit in an effort to support Obama’s decision and allow the administration to continue its efforts to develop a plan that safeguards Oregon’s healthy salmon streams and forests.

“It is time to move past controversial old growth logging near salmon streams, and move towards forest management that enjoys broad public support,” Susan Jane Brown, Western Environmental Law Center attorney and counsel for PRC, explained.  “WOPR threatened to send us back to the dark ages of the Timber Wars,” she said, “and that’s not something Oregonians want to revisit.  Instead, we agree with the Obama Administration that BLM forests need a new way forward.”

“The Obama Administration did the right thing in withdrawing WOPR,” explained Dr. Chris Frissell, Director of Science and Conservation for PRC.  “The plan directly threatened the continued existence of numerous species of salmon, and the cathedral forests of southwest Oregon,” he said.  “We owe it to imperiled fish species and their forested habitats to support that decision.”

Pacific Rivers Council is represented by Susan Jane Brown and Pete Frost of the Western Environmental Law Center.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

In April 1994, the BLM approved the Record of Decision for Amendments to Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management Planning Documents Within the Range of the Northern Spotted Owl, known as the Northwest Forest Plan.  The Northwest Forest Plan includes the Aquatic Conservation Strategy, which is a strategy to restore and maintain the ecological health of watersheds and aquatic ecosystems contained within them on public lands. The Aquatic Conservation Strategy’s protections include Aquatic Conservation Strategy Objectives, riparian reserves where land management activities are constrained, standards and guidelines to restrict management within riparian reserves, key watersheds, watershed analysis, and watershed restoration.

In 2003, the Secretary of Interior entered into a settlement agreement with the American Forest Resource Council and the Association of Oregon & California Counties in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia case of AFRC et al. v. Clarke. D.D.C. Civ. No. 94-1031-TPJ. Under the settlement agreement, the BLM agreed to revise its resource management plans in western Oregon by December 31, 2008. The settlement agreement required that at least one alternative not create any reserves on lands managed under the Oregon and California Railroad and Coos Bay Wagon Road Grant Lands Act (“O&C Act”), except as required to avoid jeopardy under the Endangered Species Act.

On September 7, 2005, the BLM announced the beginning of a formal scoping process to revise all of the Resource Management Plans for the BLM-managed lands in western Oregon. The planning area covered approximately 2,557,800 acres of public land contained in the BLM’s Salem, Eugene, Coos Bay, Roseburg and Medford Districts and the Klamath Falls Resource Area of the Lakeview District. The formal scoping period for the Resource Management Plan revision process closed October 21, 2005. 

Within the WOPR planning area, there are eight anadromous fish population segments that are listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. These include Lower Columbia River Chinook, Lower Columbia River Coho, Lower Columbia River Steelhead, Columbia River Chum, Upper Willamette River Steelhead, Southern Oregon/Northern California Coho, and Oregon Coast Coho.  Within the WOPR planning area, there are four resident fish populations that are listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. These include Columbia River and Klamath River bull trout, Lost River sucker, Shortnose sucker, and Oregon chub.

On August 9, 2007, the BLM released the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Western Oregon Plan Revisions. The DEIS contained a no-action alternative and three action alternatives. All three action alternatives proposed to reduce aquatic protections provided by the Northwest Forest Plan by reducing the width of riparian buffers and eliminating the Aquatic Conservation Strategy of the Northwest Forest Plan.

The BLM released the WOPR FEIS on October 9, 2008. The FEIS discussed the no action alternative, the three action alternatives from the DEIS, and a new fourth action alternative, the Proposed Resource Management Plans.  On December 30, 2008, the BLM adopted six RODs implementing the Proposed Resource Management Plans as set forth in the FEIS, with minor modifications, for the BLM’s Salem, Eugene, Roseburg, Medford, and Coos Bay Districts, and the Klamath Falls Resource Area of the Lakeview District.

On July 16, 2009, the Acting Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management issued a directive to the Acting Director of the Bureau of Land Management, withdrawing the WOPR RODs.  In doing so, the Acting Assistant Secretary explained that the BLM’s failure to comply with the Endangered Species Act in preparing the WOPR was “legal error,” and reinstated the Northwest Forest Plan as the guiding land management plan for the 2.5 million acres at issue in southwest Oregon.

On September 8, 2009, Douglas Timber Operators, Carpenters Industrial Council, C&D Lumber, Seneca Jones Timber Company, and Swanson Group Manufacturers filed suit in the district court for the District of Columbia, challenging the July 16^th withdrawal of WOPR.

Available Resources:

·                    Douglas Timber Operators, et al. v. Salazar (Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief)

·                    Pacific Rivers Council’s Memorandum In Support of Motion to Intervene

·                    Western Oregon Plan Revision Administrative Withdrawal, United States Department of Interior (July 16, 2009)