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Quick Take:
Environmental activists in Eugene and Springfield have long fought against intensive logging. This Earth Day, that fight continues in a nearby forest — as new Trump executive orders aim to accelerate logging on public lands.
From her office in downtown Eugene April 21, Madeline Cowen pulled up a satellite map showing a patchwork of green tree canopies and brown logged lands, about 45 minutes southwest of the city.
She is pointing out the forest near a Bureau of Land Management timber auction — when the bureau sells commercial logging contracts for designated sections of public lands. Cowen is a grassroots organizer for Cascadia Wildlands, an environmental nonprofit that has filed a legal complaint against the bureau over its Blue and Gold Harvest Project.
The controversial Blue and Gold project, originally proposed under the Biden administration, covers 3,225 acres in southern Oregon’s Coast Range and includes swaths of old-growth forests, in which trees are more than 100 years old.
On Tuesday, Earth Day, another timber sale was held on the project. Cowen and other activists were on hand to protest.
Earth Day dates to 1970 and has become synonymous with conservation and public action. Each year brings its own wave of issues to rally around.
This time, in addition to protesting the Blue and Gold project, activists are rallying against the Trump administration’s sweeping rollback of environmental protections. In western Oregon, two executive orders Trump signed March 1 — calling for the immediate expansion of logging on public lands — are top of mind.
But even in the Biden era, Cowen was busy. She helped find and train volunteers, many from Eugene and Springfield, to hike into public lands and see whether BLM’s proposals lined up with what was actually on the ground.
“There are a lot of projects close to home to Eugene and Springfield,” Cowen said.
Environmental activists in Lane County have pushed back against intensive logging for decades. And that pushback has resulted in federal and state plans that helped set limits for where timber auctions can happen and has slowed the decline of many old-growth forests, according to nonprofit conservation organization Oregon Wild.
Under the Trump administration, those ecological gains could be reversed, driven by decisions that prioritize short-term profit over long-term forest health, says Chandra LeGue, senior conservation advocate at Oregon Wild. That approach, she says, doesn’t reflect the values she sees in communities like Eugene, where she’s worked for 20 years.
“The values that most Americans hold for our public lands include more than resource extraction,” she said. “We’ve recognized the importance of these lands for recreation, preserving biodiversity, and mitigating climate change.”
LeGue and Cowen worry those values may be harder to voice, given proposed policies under the Trump administration that could fast-track logging projects, leaving little time for public comment.
This Earth Day, people are making their voices heard. Over the weekend, hundreds gathered in downtown Eugene to protest a range of Trump-era actions, including those dismantling climate policies. For Cowen, seeing people advocate for the place they love is what motivates her, as well as her lifelong passion for the people, wildlife, and ecosystems they depend on.
“I’d rather die trying my hardest rather than fall into the pit of despair,” Cowen said. “We just got to keep it going.”
