Regions
The Pacific Northwest once relied to a great extent on timber as the fuel for its economic engine. Most of the ancient forest has been leveled, doing major damage to salmon, another important economic contributor. Now the region is in transition to other industries including tourism and high-tech as environmental organizations try to protect the remnant forests that remain and bring back viable salmon populations.
- Our Stories
- The Forest and the Trees
By the 1980s, the ancient forests of the Pacific Northwest were falling at a breathtaking rate and would have disappeared altogether in not many more years. A lawsuit to protect the northern spotted owl -- followed by litigation to force the federal agencies to follow the law -- cut the rate of logging dramatically. Tom Turner explains.
 Read the story of the northern spotted owl |
- Recent Victories
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Judge Rules for Wild SalmonA judge in Seattle rules that counting hatchery salmon when considering Endangered Species Act listings is illegal. The Forest and the TreesLogging in the Pacific northwest had just about wiped out the northern spotted owl by 1980. What followed was ten years of political mayhem.Starting after World War II, and accelerating rapidly with the administration of Ronald Reagan, the ancient forests of the Pacific Northwest were being felled at a rate that would seem to make them disappear altogether within decades. Litigation to save the northern spotted owl from extinction slowed the rate of logging dramatically in the nick of time. Water Diversions in the Klamath BasinIn April 2001, Earthjustice won a major court order finding that the Bureau of Reclamation had violated the Endangered Species Act by diverting scarce water to irrigators at the expense of threatened coho salmon. |
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