Press Releases

Today, the American Forest Resource Council (AFRC) brought suit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) claiming the agency violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) when it designated millions of acres of forest land in Washington, Oregon and California as critical habitat for the marbled murrelet.

Today, the Denver-based 10th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Wyoming Federal District Court Judge Clarence Bremmer’s 2007 ruling that the 2001 Clinton Roadless Rule was illegal.

The American Forest Resource Council (AFRC), together with a 6 other associations representing federal forest and rangeland resource businesses and families, has filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the requests of Oregon’s State Forester Doug Decker and the forest products industry for review of a decision about forest roads.

Tom Partin, President of the American Forest Resource Council, participated in President Obama’s August 16 Rural Economic Forum at Northeast Iowa Community College.

Frustration over the failure of the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to follow the law has lead the forest products industry to once again seek a Court Order directing the agency to sell timber in western Oregon.

Portland, OR—Forest industry leaders commented today on the significance of a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack from 59 members of Congress whose districts include over 3⁄4 of the 193 million acres of national forest and grass lands. The members of Congress are expressing concern over a Proposed Forest Planning Rule first issued in February […]

The new spotted owl recovery plan written by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is being rushed to completion without taking into account the best science for how the owl can be saved, a coalition of forestry groups said today. Instead, the recovery plan would hurt forest owners and the rural economy by tying up […]

A western lumber producers’ group has joined the Carpenters Industrial Council in suing the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service alleging that the agency conducted secret meetings over the last 2 years as it has worked to rewrite the 2008 northern spotted owl recovery plan and critical habitat designation.

There is a new momentum building across the West that is taking many forms, but has a common theme: —“Treat the Forests and Save our Communities.” The impetus is coming from rural Americans who have been played like pawns in a chess game over how the federal forests surrounding their communities are being managed. The […]

The timber industry is expressing frustration over today’s announcement by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) that the comment period on its Northern Spotted Owl Draft Revised Recovery Plan will not be extended beyond December 15. The original comment deadline was next Monday, November 15.