PORTLAND, Ore. – The United States Forest Service (USFS) is currently taking comments on its proposed changes to the Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP) through March 17.
The NWFP dates back to the mid-1990s, serving as the blueprint for conserving forests and wildlife habitat along the West Coast. It covers over 24 million acres managed by the Forest Service and other federally managed lands, spanning from California and up through Washington.
The proposed amendments intend to provide an updated management framework that incorporates best available scientific information and current conditions in order to better address the social, economic, and ecological changes experienced over the last 30 years.
The proposed changes outlined in a Draft Environmental Impact Statement focus on themes of fire resilience, economic benefits, and forest stewardship, with Tribal inclusion and adapting to changing conditions interwoven throughout these themes.
With fire resilience, the proposed amendments would prioritize proactive fire management to protect communities and forests, such as strategic planning for community safety and risk reduction, the reintroduction of fire to maintain fire-adapted ecosystems, and collaboration with communities to use and develop wildfire protection plans.
Forest stewardship amendments would tailor management for dry and moist ecosystems, combine restoration with timber harvesting activities to maintain ecological health and economic output, use modern forestry methods to improve resilience, and retain mature and old-growth forest conditions.
The forest stewardship amendments distinguishing dry and moist ecosystems could be most impactful for improving fire resiliency in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, which is primarily dry forest.
“The original 1994 plan amendment basically grouped, lumped the whole area to have the same management direction, but we know that dry and moist ecosystems are quite different ecologically, and how fire behaves on those landscapes is quite different. So, one of the goals of this amendment is to improve our ability to restore dry ecosystems, to restore ecological integrity in those dry ecosystems, which is currently difficult to do under the existing Northwest Forest Plan,” said Shasta Ferranto, special assistant to the Forest Service's regional forester.
The proposed amendments would open up dry forests to more mechanical thinning and burning, while retaining trees older than 150 years.
The amendment would also seek to ensure forests contribute to economic growth for communities, including enhancing the predictability in timber supply while balancing conservation needs, supporting workforce development in forest management, encouraging local businesses, Tribes, and underserved communities to participate in contracts and agreements for restoration projects, and recognizing the importance of outdoor recreation and tourism.
However, conservation groups worry that the proposed changes could weaken protections for old-growth forests, increase logging under the guise of wildfire management, and prioritize timber production over long-term ecosystem health.
“The Forest Service has proposed its own sweeping changes to the NWFP that could
double—and potentially triple—logging levels on our national forests and re-open mature and
old-growth stands to aggressive logging,” conservation groups Oregon Wild, Bird Alliance of Oregon, Cascadia Wildlands, and WildEarth Guardians stated in an analysis of the proposal.
Aside from the proposed action (labeled “alternative B”), the Forest Service also provides three other alternatives that take varied approaches to the themes. Alternative A would mean no action and reflecting management practices under the 1994 NWFP. Alternative C builds upon the proposed action while taking a conservative approach to hazardous fuels management and relying on natural processes, while alternative D builds upon the proposed action and provides flexibility for restoration and hazardous fuels management.
The proposed action is in the “Publish and Review EIS” stage of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process, which is required of a federal agency when proposing a federal action that is determined to significantly affect the quality of the human environment. During this stage, the Forest Service is taking public comment, which will be considered when publishing the final draft.
More information about the proposed amendments and comment submissions may be accessed online: fs.usda.go/goto/r6/nwfp.
Taylor Caldwell: 509-433-7276 or taylor@ward.media
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