Cascadia Wildlands v. U.S. Bureau of Land Management

The federal district court for the District of Oregon found that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) complied with the National Environmental Policy Act and the Federal Land Policy Management Act when it approved the Big Weekly Elk Forest Management Project and associated timber sales. The court’s decision did not address the complaint’s allegations that BLM failed to take a hard look at the project’s impacts on carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions.

Two environmental groups filed a lawsuit in the federal district court for the District of Oregon challenging the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) review of the Big Weekly Elk Forest Management Project. The complaint described the project as authorizing logging of 3,608 acres of old-growth forest that supports wildlife protected under the Endangered Species Act. The plaintiffs contended that an environmental impact statement should have been prepared for the project and that BLM failed to take a hard look at the project’s impacts, including effects on carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions. They also alleged that BLM failed to analyze the project’s cumulative impacts in connection with other forest management actions in the same area. They asserted violations of the National Environmental Policy Act, the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act.