PRESS RELEASE: Federal Judge Blocks Forest Service Logging Plan Near Mount Shasta, Citing Illegal Owl Review

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Contacts

Kimberly Baker, Klamath Forest Alliance, 707-834-8826

Nick Joslin, Mount Shasta Bioregional Ecology Center, 530-905-0264

MOUNT SHASTA, Calif. — A federal judge has struck down a U.S. Forest Service plan to log the forested ridges above Lake Siskiyou, one of the region's most popular recreation destinations near the city of Mt. Shasta. In a ruling issued Wednesday, Judge Dena Coggins of the Eastern District of California found that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's review of the project's impact on northern spotted owls was “arbitrary and capricious,” and that the Forest Service broke the law by relying on that flawed analysis to approve the plan.

The South Fork Sacramento Project would cut more than 8,000 acres in a 16,000-acre area and tear through the nesting grounds of two of the longest continuously occupied spotted owl territories in the California Cascades. These two territories are uniquely important to the broader regional population as they serve as a “source” population for the whole region. Wildlife officials knew the project would adversely affect habitat, likely cause the incidental “take” of twelve owls, which affects nearly a quarter of the region's entire owl population, yet approved it, despite that knowledge, finding it “not likely to jeopardize” the species. Judge Coggins was not convinced. The agency’s claim that other source populations existed to cushion the blow, she wrote, “is not supported by evidence in the administrative record.” The court called it what it was: a legal failure to connect the facts to the conclusion, and ruled the Forest Service's approval unlawful.

“The Forest Service knew the project would harm these critical source populations and pushed the project through anyway,” said Kimberly Baker, Director of the Klamath Forest Alliance. “This ruling gives these owls a better chance to survive across northern California and their entire range, and that matters more than we can say.”

Northern spotted owls are down to roughly 3,000 or fewer individuals across their entire range, and the population has been shrinking for decades under the weight of habitat loss, worsening wildfire, and competition from the invasive barred owl. The owl territories are not just old nest sites; they're breeding source populations that help sustain owls across the wider Cascades and Klamath region. The surrounding forest also forms one of the few remaining wildlife corridors where species like the Pacific fisher and Pacific marten can cross Interstate 5, making it a rare, irreplaceable link for wildlife moving through Northern California. 

“These owls and their habitat are a source of deep pride for our community,” added Nick Joslin, Policy and Advocacy Director for Mount Shasta Bioregional Ecology Center. “They represent what our community already knows and loves about this place—it is a wild landscape that has been naturally recovering from past logging and must be protected from further human disturbance.”

“The best available science shows that many owl populations are in an ‘extinction vortex’ and cannot withstand the combined and interrelated effects from climate change, barred owl competition, and additional logging projects that remove key habitat in their home ranges. While more work needs to be done to cement this legal victory, we’re pleased that the judge found the agencies’ conduct to be unlawful,” said Oliver Stiefel, attorney at the Crag Law Center.

Denise Boggs, Director of Conservation Congress said she is thankful for the former Shasta-Trinity staff, who are highly experienced with spotted owls and that provided expert declarations opposing the Forest Service project. She added, “This lawsuit was about former agency staff and conservationists agreeing that Forest Service leadership ignored the experts and bullheadedly pursued a project that claimed to help owls but would actually harm them.” 

The parties are due back in court with new briefing by September 1, 2026, to determine the appropriate remedy. Environmental groups are represented by Oliver Stiefel and Meriel Darzen of the Crag Law Center. The lawsuit was brought by the Klamath Forest Alliance, Conservation Congress, the Environmental Protection Information Center, and Mount Shasta Bioregional Ecology Center.

(Photos by Danny Hofstadter)