Oregon has 13 National Forests covering approximately 15 million acres. The crown jewels are too numerous to name but include: Mount Hood, Hell’s Canyon, Winter Rim, Waldo Lake, Opal Creek, Metolius River, and Siskiyou Wild Rivers. The Obama administration is rewriting the rules for forest planning that will determine what these places will look like for decades to come.

What kind of forests will our children and grandchildren enjoy?

The Forest Service is having a big public meeting on April 6th at the Lloyd Center Doubletree.

Meeting details:
9 am, Tuesday, April 6
Multnomah Room, Doubletree Lloyd Center
1000 NE Multnomah St., Portland
Three interactive sessions at 9 am, 1 pm, and 6 pm.
Two informal open houses from noon to 1 pm and 5 pm to 6 pm.

You can read Oregon Wild's official comments on the NFMA planning process here.

Here are some ideas to bring to the meeting:

1. Protect and restore watersheds to provide high quality water.  Water flowing from the National Forest is one of the most important social and ecological values provided by these public lands. Providing high quality water requires strict protection of stream buffers, protecting native vegetation from ridge-to-ridge, and rescaling the over-built road system to match the public’s desire for clean and abundant water.
2. Protect and restore forests to store carbon and help mitigate climate change.  Forests are the lungs of the planet and an important part of the global carbon cycle that in part determines the habitability of earth’s climate. Logging emits carbon to the atmosphere and will worsen global warming, while forest conservation will keep more carbon in storage and out of the atmosphere, thus helping to mitigate global warming. Since national forests are already owned by the public and devoted to the greater public good, we can take steps to increase carbon storage right away.
3. Restore ecosystems and conserve biodiversity to enhance ecosystem resilience and help natural systems adapt to climate change. Providing permanent refuge for fish & wildlife and maintaining biodiversity in all its dimensions is a key means of enhancing ecosystem resilience in the face of climate change. Providing connectivity (such as biological legacies and biological corridors) will also help enhance resilience.
   
4. Restore and embrace natural processes, including disturbance regimes such as fire, in order to create and maintain diverse ecosystems.  Logging does not mimic natural disturbance processes, because it requires road building and it removes logs which are the building blocks of diverse ecosystems. Using natural processes is the most effective and most efficient way to achieve desired ecosystem outcomes.
5. Provide appropriate access to nature and recreation opportunities to reconnect people and communities to nature.  The FS should encourage and facilitate on-the-ground nature experiences and help contribute to public education and understanding about natural systems. The FS should strive to limit destructive forms of recreation such as off-road motorized vehicles.
6. Involve the public in forest planning and projects to ensure public support for management and accountability.  Practices such as logging old growth forests, roadless areas, and stream buffers could cause the FS to lose it social license to manage these public lands. Accurate environmental analysis and meaningful public involvement are essential aspects of the democratic process and well worth the time and resources invested.