The Bureau of Land Management (under G.W. Bush) adopted the Western Oregon Plan Revision which will significantly increase old growth clearcutting on public forests in western Oregon. Here is an explanation why it's a very bad idea.

1. Western Oregon Plan Revision: Conservation Perspective Doug Heiken Oregon Wild (formerly Oregon Natural Resources Council) [email_address] | www.oregonwild.org

2. Why we need the Northwest Forest Plan.

3. Why we need the Northwest Forest Plan.

4. The Legacy of Past Abuse is Still With Us.

5. Clearcuts and storms don’t mix.

7. BLM lands are essential to prevent extinction. “ [T]he Oregon Coast Range Physiographic Province has been identified as an area of concern, where the density of northern spotted owls is one-eighth of that recorded in other coastal areas. Habitat conditions on lands administered the Bureau of Land Management within the Oregon Coast Range Province are critical for maintaining a well-distributed, connected network of nesting, roosting, and foraging habitat .” (SAT, Ch 2 p 69. Citations omitted.) “ The majority of owls and owl habitat (about 85 percent) are currently found on Federal lands . These lands are particularly important in the State of Oregon because very little owl habitat remains on non-Federal lands in that state. The Oregon and California lands, managed by the Bureau are more crucial to owl conservation than many other lands . ” Fed. Reg. Jan 15, 1992. Final rule designating critical habitat for the northern spotted owl.

8. Timber is flowing Source: BLM State Office

14. WOPR Won’t Solve County Payments * Logging levels of the late 1980s are not a valid reference point because those harvest levels were boosted by a Senator Hatfield’s infamous appropriations rider that set aside environmental laws and caused unsustainable logging. * Recoupling remains risky: It is unlikely that BLM can fully implement such a large and highly controversial increase in old growth logging. illegal = bad Decoupled = good implausible WOPR = RMP

17. What’s at Stake …

18. What’s at Stake … “ [T]he Northwest Forest Plan … serves as the conservation anchor for the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds. The Northwest Forest Plan in turn took pressure off of private lands to provide for recovery of spotted owls, murrelets, and salmonids listed under the ESA. Our fear is that a leaner forest plan would no longer provide adjacent non-federal forest lands protection from added land use restrictions to comply with federal environmental laws.” Roy Woo, Oregon Department of Forestry letter to Forest Service regarding new forest planning rules, 4-7-03. “ Reduced long-term distribution of spotted owl habitat linking the Oregon Coast Range, Klamath Mountains, and Oregon Cascades West Physiographic Provinces is highly likely to reduce chances of spotted owls moving among these provinces. The distribution of Habitat Conservation Areas proposed by the Interagency Scientific Committee on National Forests alone will not meet the Interagency Scientific Committee’s Strategy’s requirements for well-distributed blocks of habitat connected by dispersal habitat.” (SAT, Ch 2 p 69. Citations omitted.)

20. Thinning needs abound… Before thinning…

21. Thinning work, after …

22. So much work to do … So many acres, so little time. Thin young forest YES Log old forest NO

23. Oregonians love their forests.