Illegal IVM Late Successional Reserve Logging Scheme Struck Down
March 31, 2025
Medford Oregon
For Immediate Release
Today Federal District Court Judge Ann Aiken ruled that the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) “Integrated Vegetation Management” (IVM) logging program illegally authorized the destruction of old-growth forest stands located within Late Successional Reserves. In particular, the court pointed out that “gap creation” and “open seral” logging prescriptions within the Late Successional Reserves would have increased fire hazard while removing old-growth forest habitat.
Conservation groups from across Oregon challenged the IVM logging project with the goal of getting BLM forest managers to focus on fuels reduction and fire resiliency instead of logging old-growth forests to meet artificial timber targets.
“This ruling confirms that Late Successional Reserves are exactly what their name says,” said George Sexton, KS Wild Conservation Director. “These fire-resilient old-growth forest stands capture carbon while providing some of the best wildlife habitat left in southern Oregon.”
The first commercial IVM timber sales called Penn Butte and Late Mungers were located in the Williams Late Successional Reserve and would have removed over 400-acres of old-growth habitat through “open seral” logging and another 51 acres through “gap creation” clearcutting.
“We hope this ruling sends a message to the BLM that they need to abide by the rules that they themselves established for the Late Successional Reserves.” said John Persell, Staff Attorney for Oregon Wild. “The forests at Penn Butte and Late Mungers are doing their job by storing carbon and providing habitat for at-risk wildlife species.”
A primary aspect of the IVM timber scheme was that BLM timber planners hoped to avoid site-specific analysis and public input while removing old-growth forest habitat from the Late Successional Reserves and increasing fire hazard in the logged forest stands.
“If the BLM is interested in real fire-focused restoration, we would be fully supportive,” stated Cascadia Wildlands Legal Director Nick Cady, “but aggressively logging wildlife habitat in the Late Successional Reserves that will increase fire hazard for the surrounding community is ridiculous. It demonstrates that this agency does not care what this community has been through and is only concerned with producing timber volume.”
The successful legal challenge was argued by Meriel Darzen of the Crag Law Center on behalf of KS Wild, Oregon Wild and Cascadia Wildlands. In the shadow of the Trump Administration anti-environmental Executive Orders, Crag remains committed to the rule of law.