2025 Impact Partner Crag Law Center recently celebrated two legal wins that were the culmination of years of research, collaboration, and dedication.

In mid-August, a federal judge ruled that the proponents of an 8,000-acre logging project had not done enough to understand and address the project’s potential harm to the northern spotted owl. The northern spotted owl is on the brink of extinction, and the population is declining by more than 5% each year. With roughly 3,000 owls remaining in their range from Northern California to British Columbia, the court’s ruling marks an immense victory for a deeply vulnerable species.

In late August, the Thurston County Superior Court upheld science-based protections for more than 19,000 miles of headwater streams. These streams are vital to the well-being of numerous rivers and ecosystems, and the trees alongside them filter pollution and regulate water temperature. Groups in the timber industry had sought to overturn the streams’ science-based protections, but Crag attorneys defended both the protections themselves and the process that led to their creation.