Logging and Road-Building

KS Wild monitors nearly eight million acres of public land in the Klamath, Siskiyou and Cascade mountain ranges. KS Wild works to minimize or eliminate the negative effects of short-sighted land management.  We support restoration-based projects that thin existing tree plantations and restore fire-prone forests while we work to protect old-growth forests, reduce logging road densities, remove noxious weeds, restore wildlife habitat and protect natural values of public land.

In the Pacific Northwest, nearly 90% of the old-growth forests over 150 years of age have been logged, paved over or converted to other uses. Thousands of miles of logging roads traverse federal lands, often bleeding sediment into salmon bearing streams. The remaining intact public lands are a natural legacy critical for wildlife, clean water and recreation. The Klamath-Siskiyou Ecoregion is recognized as one of the most diverse temperate forests in the world. With nearly one-quarter of its forests in mature and old growth condition, it contains much of the remaining ancient forests in the Pacific Northwest.

When managers propose to cut down ancient forests, KS Wild is often forced to appeal and litigate projects that would further degrade public lands. We have a successful track record of stopping old growth timber sales, road construction, mining and other destructive proposals through public pressure and the courts.
 

While most land managers in the Pacific Northwest have moved away from old-growth logging, the BLM in Southwest Oregon seems unable to move forward from the era of clearcuts and industrial logging in old-growth forests. KS Wild is still fighting this archaic logging practice in the Klamath-Siskiyou region.