Document Actions
WOPR Alternative 2 Summary
Summary of Alternative 2 of the BLM's Western Oregon Plan Revision.
Across 2.4 million acres, Alternative 2 will result
in:
• Seven-fold
increase in old-growth clearcutting. 58,000 acres of old-growth clearcut in
the first decade. 140,000 acres of mature and old-growth clearcut in the first
decade – that’s more than 1/3 of the remaining old-growth forests on
BLM lands in the first decade of the plan!
• Fewer, smaller old-growth reserves. Reserves are 48% smaller than the minimum needed for legal compliance and recovery of threatened species. There is no limit on the age or size of trees that an be cut in reserves.
• Dramatically reduced protection for streams. Stream buffer area reduced by 75%. Small streams get only 12 trees/acre which could be one small tree every 175 feet along streams.
• Degraded water quality. 700% more clearcutting and 60% more roads will make it harder to fix 600+ miles of already polluted streams on BLM land.
• Worst case clearcutting. Zero green tree retention, which is even less than the 2 trees/acre required by the Oregon Forest Practices Act. Owl nest stands left unprotected.
• 40% reduction in
marbled murrelet nesting habitat and 40% reduction spotted owl dispersal
habitat after 100 years.
• Communities threatened by fire. Logging will convert fire-resilient old forests into dense young forests that are prone to high severity fire.
• Special areas' values threatened. Areas designated for their important environmental values (called Areas of Critical Environmental Concern or ACECs) make up only 4% of BLM lands, the BLM's proposal would allow 25% of these areas' special values to be degraded by logging.