Supreme Court denies hearing case: Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument expansion protected
Written by Isaak Oliansky, March 27th, 2024
We are thrilled to announce that the timber industry’s challenge to the 48,000 acre expansion of our locally beloved Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument has finally stalled out. For the past 7 years, the timber industry has filed numerous lawsuits with the goal of reopening these lands for logging. The legal attempts extended from Medford federal courts and made it all of the way to the Supreme Court this winter before the highest court in the country declined to hear their case earlier this month.
The beauty of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. Credit: Sue Newman
When I moved to the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument over 4 years ago, I recall snow-shoeing out of our cabin on Soda Mountain Road where the neighborhood snow plow would stop before it hit the wilderness. Having grown up in northern Oregon frequently visiting the high desert, I was stunned to see a bigleaf maple growing just across the road from a western juniper; tree species that I was used to seeing separately in the wet and dry sides of our state. Although often subtle, every corner that you turn in the Monument reveals a biological marvel.
Little did I know that this sort of species diversity was the tip of the iceberg when it came to the wonders of this ecological crossroads. In the space where the Great Basin, Cascades, and the coastal Klamath-Siskiyous all briefly touch, anything is possible—including the only National Monument in the country specifically conserved for biodiversity.
View of the sunset over the Rogue Valley from the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. Credit: Unknown
Though we celebrate now, the fight is not over. With a looming Presidential election and the well-funded timber industry’s explicit interest in logging these forests, diligence is essential.
KS Wild will continue partnering with our dear friends at the Soda Mountain Wilderness Council and beyond to safeguard the sanctity of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. With a public revision process for the Monument’s Revised Management Plan taking place this Spring, we will continue to elevate our concerns and apply pressure to the Bureau of Land Management to ensure the best possible outcome for this locally and nationally beloved treasure.