The Forest Service has recently begun process of revising Forest Plans for the Malheur, Umatilla, and Wallowa-Whitman National Forests in the Blue Mountains, encompassing approximately five million acres in eastern Oregon and southeastern Washington.
What are Forest Plans? Forest Plans are the basis for virtually all management actions on National Forests, dictating everything from timber volume outputs to protections (or lack thereof) for wildlife and stream habitats. These plans will guide forest management for decades, and have lasting implications for the climate, biodiversity, and clean water for generations to come.
Direction under the Trump administration: Unfortunately, the Trump administration recently announced their goal to increase logging on National Forests. Concurrently, the administration has slashed staffing at the Forest Service and regulatory agencies. This sends a clear signal that environmental protections are likely to be severely weakened or entirely rolled back as a part of the Blue Mountains Forest Plan Revisions. In addition, logging in recent years has increasingly targeted mature and old forests, large trees, streamside riparian corridors, steep slopes, and other ecologically important areas.
Widespread public pressure during the Forest Plan Revision process is essential for creating opportunities for positive outcomes that protect forests ecosystems, the climate, and communities. The Forest Service and elected representatives needs to hear from you that the public wants stronger protections for wildlife, clean water, and forest ecosystems in the updated Forest Plans. Please sign up to be on BMBP’s Action Alert list to stay engaged with upcoming comment periods and information.
A paradigm shift is needed in order to protect forests in the Blue Mountains and across the region. We are in the midst of the intertwined climate and biodiversity emergencies. It is time to take decisive actions to ensure that our forests are allowed to be a vital part of the solution to these crises. We urgently need a new model that prioritizes mature and old forests, wildlife and core habitats, landscape level connectivity, streams and clean water, soils, and carbon storage. We need to focus on protecting biodiversity and ecological integrity.
We must protect the remaining mature and old forests in the Blue Mountains. We have lost most of our large and old trees to centuries of logging. Mature and old forests provide vital benefits for the climate and biodiversity. The revised Blue Mountains Forest Plans must protect the few remaining large and old trees on the landscape, and support the health of mature and old-growth forests, including their dynamic natural processes.
Prioritize protections for wildlife and wildlife habitats, large habitat blocks, and landscape-level connectivity. In order to give species the best chance at adapting to and surviving climate change, it is crucial that we prioritize protections for all native flora and fauna.
The Revised Forest Plan must contain strong, enforceable standards with measurable objectives that protect mature and old forests, un-roaded areas, streams, wildlife habitat, water quality, and carbon storage.
Current logging practices threaten mature and old forests. The large-scale, heavy commercial extraction model is not working to protect forests and keep communities safe. Please see our fact sheet on logging and wildfire to read more about this issue.
We need solutions that match the magnitude of the threats we face. We have a moral imperative to act boldly for future generations.
Here is the Forest Service’s webpage about the Blue Mountains Forest Plan Revision. Sign up to be on BMBP’s Action Alert list to stay updated on upcoming comment periods and other information.
