Photo by Francis Eatherington
What we are up against:
Changes to the Northwest Forest Plan will effect 23 National Forests across three states.
The timber industry will be in high gear to influence the amendment process. We know that several large mills will do everything in their power to open the Siuslaw National Forest to cutting mature forest.
Federal Forests: Our last big native forests
A pillar of our work for the past 30 years has been to defend the forests, rivers and streams of the Coast Range Region. Today, in light of climate warming, it is more important than ever to keep the big trees standing. The Northwest Forest Plan amendment process, in spite of its stated goals, may open the door to timber cutting in mature natural forest areas of the Siuslaw National Forest.
The Amendment Process for the Northwest Forest Plan
In December of 2023, the Forest Service announced their intent to amend the Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP). The Forest Service stated five broad reasons for the amendment process. Below are the agency’s statements (in blue) followed by our concerns (in black):
- Improving fire resistance and resilience across the NWFP area.
This may include the bogus notion of reducing “fuel load” in Coast Range and Cascade wet forests. The CRA will deliver proper fire resistance information relevant to the Siuslaw National Forest. This need is particularly important along the coastal zone from Tillamook to Douglas counties.
- Strengthening the capacity of NWFP ecosystems to adapt to the ongoing effects of climate change.
This should be good, or it could be rhetoric for cutting forest stands to achieve a timber target. What should be done to protect streams, watersheds and the forest as climate warms? We believe an intact, closed canopy, moist forest is the most resistant to wildfire.
- Improving conservation and recruitment of mature and old-growth forest conditions, ensuring adequate habitat for species dependent upon mature and old growth ecosystems and supporting regional biodiversity.
Beyond the confusion of agency data on where the remaining mature and old growth forest exists, the Forest Service should abandon the strategy of cutting commercial timber to speed up mature and old growth forest conditions. The CRA will deliver maps to each Action Group for ground-truthing where natural forest exists.
- Incorporating Indigenous Knowledge into planning, project design, and implementation to achieve forest management goals and meet the agency’s general trust responsibilities.
No one can argue with incorporating indigenous knowledge. Will that include tribal understandings at odds with the agency’s use of main-stream economics based only on exchange value and optimization?
- Providing a predictable supply of timber and non-timber products, and other economic opportunities to support the long-term sustainability of communities located proximate to National Forest System lands and economically connected to forest resources.
The entire statement is from the timber industry playbook and acts as a self-serving agency agenda. The Forest Service does not owe private business, especially secretly owned businesses, any predictability. At the same time, given that Congress has never reformed the agency’s budget incentives, a timber motivation is built into agency self-interest.
A bad spin on any reason to amend could prove disastrous for the Siuslaw National Forest.
Over July, August and September, Coast Range Association staff will work with coastal and inland volunteers to document natural forest conditions within the Siuslaw National Forest. The CRA now has a coastal organizer, Willow Kasner, whose job is to help activists self-organize natural forest documentation visits into the Siuslaw National Forest. Read about this important project on our Action Group Support Materials page. If you have questions call Willow at 541-961-4547 or Chuck 541-231-6651.
After the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) is released, we will work with all groups to lodge, if necessary, appropriate protests against the Record of Decision.