Oregon Judge Rejects Injunction Request to Halt Post-Fire Logging in Santiam Canyon, But Wider Legal Battles are Emerging

Multnomah County circuit court judge Jerry Hodson last Friday (4-30-21) rejected a request by seven environmental groups for an injunction to halt post-fire logging in the Santiam Canyon, the result of last year’s Labor Day fires. In his decision, Judge Hodson found the lawsuit filed by the conservation groups last month was unlikely to prevail in court and ruled that Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) could move forward with its plan to harvest and remove hazardous trees on the 3,000 acres of fire-burned Santiam State Forest. The ODF applauded the decision and in a statement said, “ODF’s balanced approach will provide much-needed revenue for the communities hit hardest by 2020’s fires and keep the Santiam State Forest on track towards long-term recovery.” The ruling, however, is just one battlefront in a broader conversation over how aggressive federal and state officials should be in removing trees impacted by fires that burned over 1 million acres last September.