Oregon Wild

When the oldest trees in this area were first sprouting through the soil, the indigenous people who lived on the northwest shores of turtle island had yet to meet a European colonizer, the Golden Horde of the Mongols was at the height of its power, and Joan of Arc was leading armies. 600 years of history are held in that forest.

In short, the Blue and Gold Project targets thousands of acres of some of the oldest, most fire-resistant, and untouched by modern development forests remaining on public lands, including several hundred acres of old forests along rivers and creeks. These are multi-century-old, high-quality habitat for federally protected wildlife species, including northern spotted owls, marbled murrelets, and Oregon Coast coho salmon. The proposed logging would permanently degrade these rare older forests and convert them into timber plantations, destroying what little old-growth habitat remains for endangered species, increasing fire risk, and undermining climate resilience.

This project and others like it hold some of our best remaining older forests in Oregon. We won’t stand by and let centuries of an ecosystem be lost in the span of a few weeks. Logging some of the surrounding projects is happening right now, despite the government shutdown. We’er actively fighting to protect these forests in court.

While we handle the court, we could use your help to get our politicians to stand up for these places. Blue and Gold is located in Representative Val Hoyle’s district. Give her office a call at (541) 465-6732 or head to her website to reach out and let her know you want her to do more to publicly stand up and oppose continued logging of Old Growth on BLM lands.