FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Bush-Era Old-Growth Logging Plan Nixed by Obama Administration

Conservationists see opportunity for more permanent protections

Years of effort to fight Bush logging plan pay off as Obama administration heeds science, public opinion and withdraws WOPR.

Dealing a final blow to a Bush administration initiative to increase old-growth logging and gut the Northwest Forest Plan, the Obama administration announced today the withdrawal of the Western Oregon Plan Revisions (WOPR). This Bureau of Land Management initiative sought to drastically increase in clear-cut logging of mature and old-growth forests throughout 2.6 million acres of public forest land. The decision comes after review of a lawsuit filed by Earthjustice on behalf of Oregon Wild and other conservation groups.

“President Obama has pulled the plug on the most cynical attack on Oregon’s old-growth forests in decades,” said Doug Heiken with the conservation group Oregon Wild, the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit challenging the WOPR. “This is a victory for salmon, clean water and future Oregonians, and one that we now need to make permanent.”

Bush’s WOPR logging plan would have cut 580 million board feet of timber from western Oregon forests each year, quadrupling the current cut level. Much of the logging would have occurred in forests older than 80 years old—forests that scientists have long stated are critical for providing clean water, wildlife habitat, and capturing the pollution that causes global warming.

The withdrawal of the WOPR logging scheme paves the way for Senator Ron Wyden and Representative Peter DeFazio to push ahead with federal legislation to permanently protect all remaining mature and old-growth forests in Oregon.  By permanently protecting trees over 80 years old in western Oregon, and 120 years old in dry eastern Oregon, Congress could help federal agencies avoid the conflict and controversy generated by old-growth logging while supplying a reliable supply of wood to local mills and addressing legitimate fire threats.

“This decision provides the perfect opportunity to pass strong old-growth protection legislation in Congress,” added Steve Pedery, Conservation Director with Oregon Wild. “President Obama and Secretary Salazar are doing the right thing, but the Bush attack on our last ancient forests has shown us that permanent, legislative protection is needed for our last old-growth forests.”

In recent decades, a strong consensus has formed around conservation-based thinning as an alternative to damaging old-growth logging. In the Siuslaw National Forest in Oregon’s Coast Range, forest managers have worked to restore hundreds of thousands of acres of previously logged lands. This restoration based approach has steered clear of old-growth logging while providing millions of board feet of smaller diameter wood for local mills. The model has spread to parts of the Mount Hood National Forest and to other forests in Washington and southern Oregon where managers are working to protect clean water and wildlife and avoid conflict and controversy.

In eastern Oregon, a century of old-growth logging, fire suppression and over-grazing has put forests at risk from uncharacteristic fires. Conservation-based thinning projects that work to restore east-side forests to more natural conditions enjoy broad public support, and can also provide wood to rural mills without generating conflict and controversy. In the Black Butte/Glaze Meadow Project, Oregon Wild is working to restore a section of the Deschutes National Forest with carefully designed thinning that will protect and restore old growth while making the forest more resilient to fire.

 “Over the past several years, the Bush administration and the BLM squandered millions in federal tax dollars on a reckless plan to return to the clear cutting of old-growth forests in Western Oregon,” concluded Pedery. “The withdrawal of the WOPR is an important first step—now we need Congress to do the right thing for Oregon’s public lands, our wildlife, and future generations by protecting these forests forever.”

From today’s the Department of Interior announcement:

“There is broadening agreement that it is time to reevaluate the logging of old growth forests on BLM lands,” said Secretary Salazar. “There is also agreement that logging should not occur in areas that would put water quality at risk, and we should fully consider advances in forestry and increased knowledge of species’ needs over the last two decades.”

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