Whether it’s mountain biking, hiking, skiing, snowshoeing, wildlife watching, fishing, or simply to get outside, it is no secret that many Central Oregonians love their trails and forests. It’s part of the reason we live here and why millions of people visit the area every year. Others might be content just knowing these forests exist and are out there cleaning our air and water, sequestering and storing carbon pollution from the atmosphere, and providing habitat to countless wildlife species.

If any of that applies to you, the U.S. Forest Service is asking you to weigh in on its proposal to change how many National Forest lands in the Pacific Northwest are managed, including portions of the Deschutes National Forest. This specific proposal from the Forest Service could drastically alter forest policy and management across millions of acres of federal public lands in the region, moving away from its landmark conservation strategy — the Northwest Forest Plan — to one that prioritizes increased logging and timber production.

The Northwest Forest Plan

For the past 30 years, the Northwest Forest Plan has guided the management of forests across the western halves of Oregon, Washington and Northern California. It was adopted in 1994 by the Clinton Administration to modify federal forestry practices that had been liquidating and logging old-growth forests across the Northwest at a rapid and unsustainable rate. By the 1980s, 3 square miles of old-growth forest were being clearcut in Oregon per week. Several federal court rulings found these practices were leading to declines in northern spotted owl, salmon, marbled murrelet, and other wildlife populations, while at the same time violating laws such as the Endangered Species Act, National Forest Management Act and National Environmental Policy Act. The Northwest Forest Plan became the administration’s solution to bring federal forest policies in line with the law and protect key habitats for threatened fish and wildlife.

The plan required agencies to shift their focus from logging the last remaining stands of mature and old-growth (80-plus-year-old) forests to recovering more older forest habitat. While protecting these older forests, the plan still allows commercial logging in designated areas and fuels reduction activities in most portions of the plan area. It applies to over 24 million acres across 17 National Forests in the Pacific Northwest.

In Central Oregon, the Northwest Forest Plan covers the western portion of the Deschutes National Forest. This includes forests around the Phil’s Trail network west of Bend, the Metolius River basin and Cascade Lakes Highway.

Proposed changes to the plan

The Forest Service is now proposing to roll back many of the protections for mature and old-growth forests covered by the Northwest Forest Plan, with significant implications for recreation, fire, wildlife habitat and climate resiliency. In November, the agency released a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) outlining those proposed changes.

The DEIS includes four alternative actions the Forest Service is considering. One involves retaining the current Northwest Forest Plan protections, while the other three would weaken current protections and increase logging on national forest public lands to varying degrees, among other changes. The Forest Service’s proposed action includes:

• Allowing logging in “Late Successional Reserves” (LSRs) that are up to 120 years old (the current Northwest Forest Plan protects forests in LSRs from logging that are 80 years old or older). This would open up 824,000 acres to logging — the equivalent of nearly eight Mt. Jefferson Wilderness areas.

• Logging at least one-third of dry forests (e.g. ponderosa pine-dominated forests common to central Oregon) over 15 years — a total of 964,000 acres.

• Doubling the amount of commercial logging in national forests across the Northwest Forest Plan area.

• Integrating Traditional Ecological Knowledge, supporting traditional practices and pursuing co-stewardship agreements with tribes where possible.

Many of the proposed changes have been met with criticism.

“For nearly three decades, the Northwest Forest Plan has protected Pacific Northwest wildlife, clean water, and old-growth forests,” said Steve Pedery, conservation director for Oregon Wild, in a press release. “It is deeply troubling for the Forest Service to propose such enormous changes to this vital environmental protection plan at this time, just before a change in Presidential administrations.”

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According to the Forest Service, the amendments are being made to address changing forest conditions and increase the wildfire resiliency of these forests. It is unclear how increasing older forest logging will create more wildfire-resilient forests. While light-touch thinning and prescribed burning of fine fuels (e.g. brush and small-diameter trees) can help in certain dry forests, studies have shown that mature and old-growth forests are naturally more fire-resistant than logged, plantation-style forests and logging older forests and larger trees can even increase fire risk. Mature and old-growth forests also sequester and store a disproportionate amount of carbon compared to younger forests, acting as a natural solution to the very climate crisis that is fueling uncharacteristic wildfires across the West.

What’s next

The public has until March 17 to provide comments and opinions to the Forest Service on the proposed changes. New Forest Service leadership in the incoming Trump Administration will then review the feedback and determine the fate of the Northwest Forest Plan.

To learn more about the proposal and leave a comment on the draft plan, visit the Forest Service planning page at fs.usda.gov/project/?project=64745. Advocacy organizations active in Central Oregon, like Oregon Wild and Great Old Broads for Wilderness, have additional information and upcoming educational opportunities as well.