The Bureau of Land Management has withdrawn a controversial timber project near Eugene after three environmental groups filed a lawsuit last November.
The Big League Project included logging, thinning and forest management on about 4,600 acres in the Calapooia Calapooia and Mohawk River Watersheds.
On Dec. 14, BLM quietly announced it was withdrawing the project, even after seeming to stand up for it when the lawsuit was filed.
If the agency decides to revisit the project in the future, “it will consider new information, conduct additional analysis, and solicit further input from members of the public,” said Dennis Teitzel, district manager for BLM’s Northwest Oregon District.
The environmental groups that filed the lawsuit — Willamette Riverkeeper, Cascadia Wildlands and Oregon Wild — cheered the decision.
“It is unfortunate (BLM) is only willing to engage in critical and required environmental analysis after the agency has been challenged in court,” said Lindsey Hutchison of Willamette Riverkeeper. “It should not take a lawsuit to convince the BLM to follow the law.”