EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Some Oregon State University forestry students say they have a way to ease the gridlock over logging on public lands in Western Oregon.
As part of their senior project, 35 students of Norman Johnson, a Northwest forest policy veteran, came up with a plan to divide the landscape into the “moist forests” of Western Oregon and the “dry forests” of Central Oregon.
Moist forests have fewer but more catastrophic fires that take out whole stands of trees. Dry forests experience more frequent lower intensity fires with many trees surviving.
The students say those differences would guide how the forests are managed, based partly on the age of the trees.
