Cascadia Wildlands v. Scott Timber Company
On June 26, 2024, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 2022 ruling from the District Court of Oregon, preventing Scott Timber Co. from clearcutting old-growth forest within Oregon’s Elliott State Forest. The court found that logging the 355-acre Benson Ridge parcel by Scott Timber Co., a subsidiary of Roseburg Forest Products, would harm threatened marbled murrelets in violation of the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). This case marks the first time a private timber company in Oregon has been held accountable for potential ESA violations.
“After a decade of advocacy, the rare old-growth in Benson Ridge is at last protected from private industry chainsaws,” said Nick Cady, legal director at Cascadia Wildlands. The 82,000-acre Elliott State Forest, located near Coos Bay, has faced controversy for over a decade. In 2012, following the state of Oregon’s decision to significantly increase logging levels on the Elliott, Cascadia Wildlands, the Center for Biological Diversity, and Bird Alliance of Oregon sued the state for illegally logging occupied marbled murrelet habitat. In 2014, the state settled the suit, agreeing to drop 26 timber sales and stop logging in occupied murrelet habitat.
Despite the settlement, the state sold the Benson Ridge parcel and two other tracts, totaling 1,453 acres, which contained mature and old-growth forests occupied by marbled murrelets. Conservation organizations had warned that logging these forests would violate the ESA, but the sales were finalized regardless. “I’m thrilled that the marbled murrelets of Benson Ridge are safe from logging,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity.
The Benson Ridge case, filed in August 2016, claimed ESA violations, which prohibit “take” (harm, harassment, or killing) of threatened species. Murrelets nest on large, old-growth trees, making daily trips of up to 35 miles inland to feed their young. The Ninth Circuit affirmed that logging the Benson Tract would eliminate 49 acres of occupied habitat, fragmenting the forest and negatively impacting murrelets’ breeding behaviors. “This entire Elliott State Forest saga demonstrates the incredible cynicism that underpins the treatment of mature and old-growth forests in Oregon,” said Quinn Read, conservation director at Bird Alliance of Oregon.
“This case exemplifies the vital importance of citizen suits in our fight to save the planet,” said Daniel Synder of Public Justice. In recent years, stakeholders have worked to transition the Elliott State Forest into the Elliott State Research Forest, decoupling it from the Common School Fund. This transition emphasizes older forest conservation and research, removing the obligation to clearcut the Elliott for public school funding. The conservation organizations were represented by Daniel Kruse of Kruse & Saint Marie LLC, Daniel Snyder of Public Justice, Nick Cady of Cascadia Wildlands, and Brian Segee of the Center for Biological Diversity.
