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Oregon's Heritage Forests at Risk
Bush administration aims to eliminate Northwest Forest Plan safeguards from 2 million acres of BLM land in Western Oregon; access to quality hunting and fishing, wildlife habitat, clean water at risk.
(UPDATE: 4.1.09) Justice Department announces it will not defend Bush-era Northern Spotte Owl Recovery Plan, making legal justification of WOPR even shakier.
The Bush administration and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) have released their final plan for over 2 million acres of western Oregon forestlands. The Western Oregon Plan Revision (WOPR for short) would ramp up logging across the landscape and target some of our last old-growth forests. This dangerous plan would also degrade habitat for fish and wildlife and threaten the quality of our drinking water.
Take action now to stop this WOPR of a bad plan!
The initial comment period for the plan ended January 11, 2008. Click here to see what other government agencies are saying about the WOPR (hint: they don't much like it).
WOPR Background
When it comes to the management of public forest lands in our state, most Oregonians think of the US Forest Service.
How much timber does the BLM cut down? Click here for a graph that shows how the BLM has been meeting its own timber targets.
But the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is responsible for more than 2 million acres of public land in western Oregon that has historically been covered by the environmental safeguards provided by the Northwest Forest Plan. Logging has severely affected much of this land, but the BLM still manages hundreds of thousands of acres of pristine and unspoiled old-growth "heritage forests."
Click here to read the latest news on the WOPR.
Tragically, these forests are at risk. The Bush administration, logging interests and the BLM are all working together to put these heritage forests on the chopping block. The Bush administration settled a lawsuit brought by the logging industry, and agreed to remove BLM forestlands in western Oregon from the Northwest Forest Plan's old-growth reserve system.
New Google Earth maps of threatened WOPR areas courtesy of the Coast Range Association.
Before BLM could open these old-growth forests to logging, however, it was required to complete an open planning process and gather public input. That process has reached its conclusion and now Oregon Wild is working with a diverse coalition of hunters, anglers, conservationists, elected officials, and rural land owners to push for continued protection of these lands. Oregon has already lost nearly 90 percent of its historic old-growth forests. Our remaining stands should be set aside for clean water, carbon storage, fish and wildlife habitat, recreation, and as a legacy for future generations.
Go to our action page to find out how you can help stop this plan and keep Oregon's old-growth heritage forests protected!
Forests threatened by WOPR timber sales:
