Cascadia Wildlands v. Scott Timber Co.

OPINION AND ORDER

AIKEN, Judge:

Plaintiff environmental organizations bring this action pursuant to the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”), 16 U.S.C. §§ 1531 et seq., against defendant logging companies. Plaintiffs seek to temporarily enjoin implementation of defendants’ Benson Snake logging project. Plaintiffs allege the Benson Snake logging project would destroy forty-nine acres of old-growth and mature forest habitat occupied by marbled murrelets, a threatened species under the ESA. Specifically, plaintiffs argue that logging in occupied marbled murrelet habitat constitutes an unauthorized…