Often, WFLC files separate cases that address similar environmental issues. Below, learn about how our cases, both active and inactive, tackle some of the most pressing forestry issues that adversely impact our natural resources.

U.S.-Canada Softwood Lumber Agreement

WFLC takes action to uncover the truth behind the $1 billion giveway to the U.S. timber industry and its allies. 

• FSC v. USTR  (active) alleges that the Bush Administration violated federal appropriations law when, in September of 2006, without any public process or Congressional approval, the Administration steered $350 million from Canadian softwood lumber lawsuit settlement funds to Bush-selected timber industry-dominated forestry foundations.
• CBD v. USTR  (active) challenges the failure of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to timely and thoroughly respond to plaintiffs’ FOIA request in the manner mandated by FOIA. The FOIA request sought information from the USTR pertaining to the “meritorious initiatives” funded with $450 million of the proceeds of the U.S.-Canada Softwood Lumber Agreement. Click here to read the Freedom of Information Act complaint filed in federal court on behalf of our clients.

Ensuring Clean Water

Read about WFLC's efforts to fight against Oregon’s extensive system of industrial logging roads that illegally discharge polluted stormwater into rivers and streams in the Coast Range of northwest Oregon.

• NEDC v. Brown (active) challenges industrial logging roads' illegal discharge of polluted stormwater

Protecting and Recovering the Imperiled Northern Spotted Owl

• Seattle Audubon Society v. Sutherland (inactive) challenged Weyerhaeuser to stop logging critical Northern Spotted Owl habitat in Washington State.
• Seattle Audubon Society v. Norton (inactive) challenged the failure of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to develop and implement a Northern Spotted Owl recovery plan.

Promoting Sound, Sustainable Forestry on State Forests

WFLC is currently litigating a case that holds Washington State accountable to the rules, regulations, and policies it has adopted to protect our natural resources and quality of life.

• Skagit County v. State of Washington (active) concerns the right and duty of the state to protect water quality on state owned forests. 
• WEC v. Sutherland (inactive) challenged the Environmental Impact Statement used by the Board of Natural Resources in 2004 to justify an increase in logging on state lands.

Promoting Real Salmon Recovery

Read about our efforts to protect channel migration zones in WEC v. DNR and Weyerhaeuser Co. (inactive) and our litigation to improve salmon recovery.

Addressing the Cumulative Effects of Multiple Forest Practices

Since 2002, WFLC has been working on three related cases that address the adverse cumulative effects of multiple forest practices on the environment. 

• The Mountaineers v. DNR and Plum Creek Timber Company (inactive) involves a series of large ugly Plum Creek Timber Company clear-cuts one mile from the Carbon River entrance to Mount Rainier National Park. This case was stayed in 2005 pending the resolution of:
• Alpine Lakes Protections Agency (ALPS) v. Washington State Forest Practices Board (FPB) (inactive) argues that the Board has both the authority and legal duty to adopt a forest practices rule that would prevent multiple SEPA-exempt logging permits from having a significant cumulative adverse environmental impact; and,
• ALPS v. WA Department of Ecology (DOE) (inactive) challenges the Washington Department of Ecology's 2003 revision of some of its State Environmental Policy Act rules.