Mission

Showcase the degradative logging of old-growth forests in Oregon with Senator Wyden's staff, Cascadia Wildlands, Oregon Wild, and media.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is proposing to log thousands of acres of pristine habitat in Oregon’s old-growth forests. We flew over massive projects proposed in the Coast Range and Klamath Mountains. This region is a biodiversity haven with some of the most diverse conifer forests in the world. We soared above beautiful old-growth forests and the dramatic peaks in this watershed, viewing largely pristine forest and world class habitat connectivity that spans the Cascades all the way to the Coast Range.

These mature and old-growth forests are not only threatened by logging, but are especially sensitive due to added stressors of a warming climate, dramatic biodiversity decline, and irresponsible development. We flew above the site of the Blue and Gold timber project, which would log thousands of acres of pristine old-growth in the Coast Range, located in the Umpqua River watershed, where imperiled Northern spotted owl and marbled murrelet live.

Our overflight examined another project of imminent called the Last Chance timber sale which threatens to remove more than 3,400 acres of spotted owl habitat and nearly 1,300 acres of riparian areas. The project poses massive threats to this important connectivity corridor, significant biodiversity hotspot, critical fishery and, if the forests are left standing, both an important region of climate refugia and a climate mitigating carbon sink.

EcoFlight's flight partners are working to protect our nation’s remaining old-growth and mature forests to preserve wildlife habitat, regional fisheries, mitigate climate change, and biodiversity in perpetuity.

Click for photos from the flight, geo-reference aerial images (download and open in Google Earth), and aerial GoPro footage.