Press Releases

Today the American Forest Resource Council (AFRC) announced a significant legal victory in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit concerning three critical forest management projects—Baby Bear, Bear Wallow, and South Warner—on the Fremont-Winema National Forest. The Ninth Circuit upheld the U.S. Forest Service’s use of the timber...

On Friday, the American Forest Resource Council (AFRC) will formally submit comments to the Forest Service highlighting how the proposed National Old-Growth Amendment undermines the agency’s ability to address the primary threats to old-growth forests including severe wildfires that have already devastated nearly 700,000 acres of old-growth forests on federal...

Today, the American Forestry Resource Council (AFRC) and Western Energy Alliance (Alliance) submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in support of the petitioners in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition and Uinta Basin Railway, LLC v. Eagle County, Colorado et al. Mountain States Legal Foundation, led by counsel Ivan London...

The fate of Washington’s cap-and-trade law, the Climate Commitment Act (CCA), will be decided by voters this November. Proponents of the law often claim that repealing the CCA would eliminate critical funding to improve forest health, reduce wildfire risk, and make forests more resilient to climate change. However, these claims...

Pacific County Superior Court Judge Donald J. Richter last week rejected a lawsuit by anti-forestry groups claiming the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) violated state laws in approving a timber sale in mature forest stands, also politically labeled as “legacy forests,” on public working forests known as state trust...

The Pintler Face Project on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest can proceed with commercial timber harvest activities after U.S. District Court Judge Dana Christensen today denied, in part, a motion for a preliminary injunction sought by anti-forestry groups. The American Forest Resource Council (AFRC) became involved in the litigation due to...

Washington faces significant social and economic risks if anti-forestry groups are successful in pushing the Board of Natural Resources and candidates for Commissioner of Public Lands to close an additional 77,000 acres of public working forests in western Washington, known as Department of Natural Resources (DNR) state trust lands. These...

On a matter of vital importance, the Supreme Court of the United States today granted certiorari in the case of Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado. This case presents a crucial opportunity to address the extensive and often overreaching applications of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which...

The American Forest Resource Council (AFRC) today said the U.S. Forest Service’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement for its proposed nationwide old growth amendment will not address the primary threats to old growth forests on National Forest System lands, including severe wildfires, insect infestations, and disease that have already devastated nearly...

Managing Forests, Using Wood Products Deliver Sustained Climate Benefits A new report by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should question the narrative the United States is running out of old growth, and “protecting the last remaining” old growth is the only solution to combatting climate change. Research suggests forests are...

In America, checks and balances serve a critical purpose: they prevent the concentration of power in any single branch of government. They also keep the people’s expression of the “public interest” at the forefront of federal laws and regulations. However, recent actions by the D.C. Circuit Court—now pending before the...

Does permanently setting aside mature forests on Department of Natural Resources (DNR) managed state trust lands provide a larger carbon benefit than harvesting and storing that carbon in Washington-made wood products? This question is relevant after anti-forestry activists sued and convinced a King County Judge to halt the Wishbone timber...

As anti-forestry groups prepare to protest the Bureau of Land Management’s Integrated Vegetation Management plan at federal court on April 2, the American Forest Resource Council offers the following explainer on the plan and why it’s important for improving forest health and reducing the risks of wildfire and smoke in...

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review the Obama-era expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument and the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) 2016 Resource Management Plans for Western Oregon O&C lands.  The case posed legal questions of national interest around Executive Branch overreach and the use of the Antiquities...

The American Forest Resource Council (AFRC) today urged the Pacific Northwest’s Congressional Delegation in Washington, DC to take action to address challenges to the region’s forest and wood products sector that supports more than 150,000 private sector jobs in Oregon and Washington and provides critical infrastructure for the federal government...