Conservation group threatens to sue Forest Service

Apr. 16—The Center for Biological Diversity has warned the U.S. Forest Service that it intends to sue the agency for "failing to protect coastal martens from destructive off-road vehicles in the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area."

A release authored by the Center for Biological Diversity said that in a single weekend, thousands of off-road vehicles can drive through and damage marten habitat in the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area.

"Off-road vehicles create noise disturbances, destroy habitat and could run over or strike coastal martens," it said."These risks increase during special riding events permitted by the Forest Service — like Coos Bay's "UTV Takeover," held annually in June."

The notice said the Forest Service must analyze and mitigate the risks to martens.

"This could include fencing to keep off-road vehicles in designated riding areas, enforcing existing decibel limits and limiting the number of off-road vehicles allowed in the National Recreation Area at a given time," it said. "Thousands of off-road vehicles are roaring through the dunes, driving coastal martens to the brink, but the Forest Service is doing next to nothing to save them," said Tala DiBenedetto, a carnivore conservation staff attorney at the Center. "The agency needs to act fast to protect these cute little carnivores in one of the last places they call home."

"If the Forest Service doesn't take immediate action to protect these vulnerable martens, they could disappear from the Oregon Dunes forever," said DiBenedetto. "The agency has a duty to these martens and to the many Oregon Dunes visitors and community members who care about them."

The notice gives the Forest Service 60 days to correct its legal violations.

"If the agency fails to do so, the Center is prepared to file a lawsuit to protect coastal martens," the CBD release said.

Riders respond

A group of OHV enthusiasts known as Save the Riders Dunes, formed in 2010, was asked for their take on the potential litigation.

Former STRD president and current treasurer Jody Phillips said the group has been expecting the CBD action and will have a full response soon.

Phillips said the group appreciates what the Forest Service has done to date involving the dunes and public use.

"They have done an admirable job of trying to manage this crazy place called the Oregon Dunes, and be fair all the way around," he said. "That's not an easy task."

Phillips said one of the Forest Service's biggest challenges has been the management of non-native vegetation, which he said, the marten lives in.

Responding to CBD comments that OHVs have been destroying vegetation, Phillips said he was a resident of Florence in 1957 "when there was no vegetation" and consisted entirely of sand.

"That vegetation was planted by the Forest Service," he said, later noting adding restoration efforts have been focused on removing it. Of the open riding areas listed as 10c in the Oregon dunes, Phillips said only about 25 percent is actually used by OHVs.

"The lion's share of that is open sand," he said, adding that the damp climate is helping non-native vegetation grow over the dunes.

Phillips said the coastal marten is a subspecies of the Humboldt marten, and has a very small population.

"Fish and Wildlife didn't want to list coastal marten," he said, "but they were threatened with a suit so they just caved and said 'you can have a subspecies.' Our argument is essentially, how did they get there? If you think about it, we've been riding in there all along. If we're a threat to them, how are they living in there?" He said the coastal marten is a non-native species which could not have lived in the open sand that was there before the vegetation. He added that OHV events on the dunes mostly take place in open sand areas, as well.

Phillips said closing dune areas to OHV users would have economic impacts to the region. He said the popularity of OHV has exploded in recent decades and the group has been involved with Forest Service restoration projects over the years.

Forest Service officials declined to comment on the possible suit.

"At this time, the Forest Service is unable to comment on prospective litigation and we do not have a response statement to share," said USFS Public Affairs Officer Joanie Schmidgall.

What are Martens?

According to CBD, martens are small, stealthy carnivores in the weasel family with long, slender bodies, large triangular ears and bushy tails which grow up to two feet long but weigh under three pounds and must eat one-quarter of their body weight daily to support their high metabolism.

"Martens eat small mammals, birds, berries, reptiles and insects and are eaten in turn by larger mammals and raptors," CBD said.

"Fewer than 400 coastal martens remain in four highly isolated populations in Oregon and California. Approximately 71 of those individuals live in the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, which the Forest Service manages," the CBD release stated. "Scientists warn that the fragile marten population in the Oregon Dunes could be wiped out if just two or three of the imperiled animals are killed by people in a single year."

Coastal martens were thought to be extinct until they were rediscovered in the 1990s in northern California, according to CBD.

"The Center first petitioned the Service to protect coastal martens nearly 15 years ago," the release said. "After multiple lawsuits by the Center, the agency listed the martens as threatened in September 2020. The Service later proposed approximately 1.4 million acres of critical habitat for the marten, including on the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, but has yet to finalize these protections."

Editor's note: The CBD release repeatedly refers to martens as carnivores, but also says they eat meats and berries, which would make them omnivores by definition. However, some reports by the US Fish and Wildlife and other agencies also refer to them as carnivores, while others list them as omnivorous.