Time is running out for those wanting to offer feedback on proposed changes to the U.S. Forest Service’s Northwest Forest Plan. The public comment period closes Monday.
The plan includes four management alternatives for 24.5 million acres of federal forest lands in Western Oregon, Washington and Northwestern California. It covers 17 national forests, seven Bureau of Land Management districts, six national parks, and 165,000 acres of national wildlife refuges and Department of Defense lands.
Locally, this includes parts of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area.
“Clark County contains approximately 1,200 acres of National Forest System lands within the (plan) boundary, but residents are truly on the doorstep of millions of acres that are covered by the Northwest Forest Plan,” said Kristin Carver, spokeswoman for the agency’s Pacific Northwest Region.
First put into effect in 1994, the plan includes standards and guidelines for management activities for each of the agency’s various land use and aquatic conservation categories. The proposed alternatives are intended to reduce the risk of wildfires, address climate change and — perhaps most controversially — expand logging.
The agency says ecological and social changes are challenging the effectiveness of the decades-old plan.
“In recent years, large, high-severity wildfires have resulted in losses of mature and old-growth forests, eliminating gains achieved during the first 25 years of implementation. Research on climate change and on the effects of past forest and fire management regimes indicates that large wildfires and other disturbances will increase in frequency and extent throughout the area,” the Forest Service said in its draft environmental analysis released in November.
Environmental groups have criticized the proposed changes, claiming it will once again allow clear-cutting of old-growth forests the plan was enacted to protect.
“For nearly three decades, the Northwest Forest Plan has protected Pacific Northwest wildlife, clean water and old-growth forests,” Steve Pedery, conservation director for Oregon Wild, said in a November news release. “It is deeply troubling for the Forest Service to propose such enormous changes to this vital environmental protection plan at this time.”
Concerns about increased logging activity have only grown since President Donald Trump signed an executive order March 1 to allow increased timber production on federal lands. Increased logging in these old-growth areas will lead to further habitat loss for endangered and threatened wildlife species, according to Oregon Wild.
“It appears that the Forest Service wants to abandon the fundamental purpose of the Northwest Forest Plan — protecting fish and wildlife and the mature and old-growth forests they need to survive,” Oregon Wild staff attorney John Persell said in the statement.
Carver said the agency is focused on protecting native species and that the proposed changes won’t be as detrimental as some fear.
“The Forest Service has included plan elements to ensure threatened and endangered species habitat is preserved and is actively consulting with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service on the amendment’s potential effects towards federally listed species and their critical habitat, collaborating to ensure all (Endangered Species Act) requirements are met,” she said.
For the first time, the amended plan also will include coordination with Native American tribes in all three states.
“Fully engaging with tribes in addressing the challenges faced in the Northwest Forest Plan area is critical to the successful development of the amended land management plans,” the agency said in the environmental analysis.
Since January, the federal agency held a number of public meetings to educate the public about the proposed changes. However, none of those meetings were in Clark County.
“We’ve held 13 in-person public engagement sessions over January, February and early March across the Northwest Forest Plan area, including one in Stevenson,” Carver said. “Anyone who was not able to join us but wants more information before the close of the comment period can still find information and recorded presentations on our website.”
