The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), an arm of the U.S. Department of the Interior, administers 261 million acres of America's public lands, located primarily in 12 western states. It is often referred to as the "Bureau of Livestock and Mining," due to its longstanding pro-industry management bias.

While most extractive activities on BLM land focus on grazing, mining and oil and gas drilling, four million acres of western Oregon BLM land are forested and managed for timber production.

Western Oregon BLM lands provide important low elevation connectivity for numerous forest dependent species between the higher elevation national forests in the surrounding mountains. They also provide drinking water, wildlife habitat and air filtration. These forests are close to many western Oregon communities, and offer endless opportunities for hiking, camping, fishing, hunting and other recreation. The BLM's Western Oregon Plan Revision (WOPR) is perhaps the largest current threat to these legacy forests. Click here for more information on the "WOPR" process.

The BLM's Medford District in southern Oregon is one of six BLM districts in western Oregon.  The Medford District frequently auctions off more mature and old-growth timber sales than any other district in the state.

The Medford BLM lies in the Cascade and Siskiyou Mountains of southern Oregon, providing habitat for numerous old-growth dependent species, and several key watersheds for salmon recovery. Northern spotted owls, bald eagles, peregrine falcons, rare salamanders, obscure fungi and unusual lichens all find refuge in its lush, ancient forests. The Siskiyou Mountains’ serpentine soils are associated with multitudes of incredibly rare, unique flowering plants of critical biological significance. The district also possesses the largest forested BLM roadless area in America: the 46,000-acre Zane Grey, along the Wild and Scenic Rogue River. 

Like all federal forest land in the northern spotted owl’s range, the Medford BLM is governed by the Northwest Forest Plan. The Bush administration's dismantling of the Aquatic Conservation Strategy, sensitive species Survey and Manage program and old-growth and aquatic protections could have grave consequences for the district's unique biodiversity.

KS Wild monitors the four Resource Areas of the Meford BLM (Ashland, Butte Falls, Grants Pass and Glendale). Some of the timber sales that KS Wild is actively opposing include Kelsey-Whisky, Cotton Snake, Bear Pen, Mr. Wilson, Five Rogues and Granite Horse.  We recently stopped the Pickett Snake, Scattered Apples and Timbered Rock sales in district court.

The Medford BLM is touted as a model in fire restoration, a focus of Bush administration rhetoric surrounding fuels reduction and the Healthy Forests Initiative (HFI). George Bush announced the HFI on the Medford BLM in August of 2002. One of the 10 "pilot projects" for the HFI is located here. The HFI could facilitate thousands of acres of so-called "fuels reduction" on the Medford BLM, targeting large, commercially valuable trees that pre-date fire suppression by hundreds of years.

One of the worst forest health projects, the Kelsey Whisky timber sale, proposes nearly 500 acres of ancient forest logging in the Zane Grey Roadless Area.

The Bush administration views the Medford BLM as a model for their fire rhetoric. Therefore, it is a key area where increased public pressure must be mounted. The Medford BLM provides an excellent opportunity to expose the so-called "model" for what it truly is – a plan to deny citizen involvement and increase commercial logging on public land.