Judge Temporarily Halts Logging of 300 Acres of Legacy Forests in the Elwha Watershed
F O R I M M E D I A T E R E L E A S E
May 8, 2025
Contact: Elizabeth Dunne (edunne@earthlaw.org)
Port Angeles, Washington: Clallam County Superior Court yesterday halted logging of 300 acres of legacy forests in and around the Elwha Watershed.
Earth Law Center (ELC) supported Legacy Forest Defense Coalition (LFDC) in bringing the emergency motion to stop the logging, which stems from two recent timber sales. The logging company, Murphy, had already started road building and destruction of this unique ecosystem.
The judge's order halts all logging activity for 14 days. The court will hold another hearing later in May to further consider whether the WA Department of Natural Resource (DNR) is violating its own policies by logging the last remaining structurally complex and biodiverse lowland temperate rainforests in the state. LFDC has won preliminary court injunctions in several other cases on these grounds.
Forest in “Tree Well” timber sale. Photo Credit: Scott F. McGee @forest2sea
ELC has two separate but related lawsuits, with co-plaintiffs Center for Whale Research and Orca Network, that are still ongoing. Those cases argue that DNR has failed to account for how industrial logging practices impact stream flows in the watershed, in particular the famous Elwha River and its tributaries.
The Elwha River is the site of one of the largest dam removal projects in US history – a project that succeeded in allowing salmon to repopulate the river for the first time in over a century. The endangered Southern Resident Orcas depend upon recovering salmon populations for their survival.
Despite the millions of dollars spent on river restoration, the DNR had continued to log legacy forests in the watershed up until a pause instituted by the new State Public Lands Commissioner, Dave Upthegrove, upon taking office in January. The pause fulfills Commissioner Upthegrove's campaign promise to stop the destruction of legacy forests. DNR, however, has continued to defend in court the decision to put legacy forests on the chopping block in timber sales approved under the prior commissioner.
