The western Oregon Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has been seeking public input for new plans which will guide forest management across 2.6 million acres of public lands.

These public forests belong to all Oregonians, and provide clean drinking water, habitat for fish and wildlife which supports hunting and fishing, diverse recreation opportunities and the quality of life which makes Oregon a great place to live.

Under the Bush administration, logging interests and the BLM worked together to put these heritage forests on the chopping block. The Western Oregon Plan Revision (WOPR) would have ramped up logging across the landscape and clear-cut some of our last old-growth forests, degrading habitat for fish and wildlife and threatening the quality of our drinking water.

Thanks to years of public involvement and opposition, as well as legal action by Oregon Wild and other groups, this flawed plan was brought to a halt.

Since WOPR, the BLM, Forest Service, conservationists, scientists and some in the timber industry have been starting to move beyond the controversy of clear-cutting and old-growth logging to find common ground in restoration-based projects in western Oregon. Despite these gains, public forests are still threatened – currently by a  proposal to place 1.5 million acres of these public lands into a "timber trust" to be clear-cut like industrial timber lands to fund county budgets.

The new plan revision process can be an opportunity for the BLM to get the management of these forests right. This revision must not become a "WOPR Jr." – a controversial plan which logs mature and old-growth forests and has negative impacts on the quality of life of rural residents, carbon storage, water quality, and fish and wildlife habitat.

Instead, the plan revision should strengthen the Northwest Forest Plan by protecting our ancient forests, clean water, and wildlife.  It should build on the momentum of common sense restoration, such as thinning young forests which will produce jobs and restore forests and watersheds.

Make your voice heard!

The BLM needs to hear the voices of everyone who values these lands! This is our chance to steer the BLM in the right direction - away from the controversial logging of mature and old-growth forests and toward a common sense management plan which focuses on restoring our forests and watersheds.

Click here to send your comments on the new BLM management plan.