One of the issues we will be trying to raise awareness of with this year’s convergence is the US Bureau of Land Management’s Western Oregon Plan Revisions. The Western Oregon Plan Revisions (WOPR) being proposed by the BLM are currently the greatest threat to Oregon’s remaining forests. In August the BLM released its draft management plan for western Oregon. Known as “WOPR,” the BLM is proposing a bold and myopic plan for 2.5 million acres of public forests stretching from the Willamette to the Rogue Valley. The U.S. and the rest of the world, faced with a steady and tragic decline in old-growth forests and the related looming climate change, should be working to rapidly shift the management direction for these public assets. But this does not appear to be happening anytime soon…

Some of Oregon’s stateliest groves of trees – ancient, old growth forests owned by the American public – are moving toward the chopping block. In a sweetheart deal for the timber industry, the Bush administration is threatening to drop protections for our public heritage and a legacy that future generations deserve to enjoy. The Bush administration has reached a settlement with the timber industry REQUIRING the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in western Oregon to begin a process of removing protections such as old-growth reserves and other land allocations that currently protect rare plants and animals. These forests are some of the richest forests in the world, and absolutely critical to fish, wildlife and the citizens that live around them and others who come to take in the spectacular beauty.

WOPR is a proposal to triple logging levels on 2.2 million acres of Oregon forests, by removing protections for old-growth forests, shrinking buffers for creeks and weakening safeguards for wildlife.

It’s not the National Park Service or the U.S. Forest Service that manages these forests. The BLM (an arm of the U.S. Department of Interior) is responsible for managing 2.6 million acres (close to 5,000 square miles) of forested land in western Oregon. Much of this BLM land consists of low-elevation forests, in contrast to the mountainous acreage found in the surrounding National Forests. BLM forests in western Oregon contain many key watersheds for salmon recovery, recreational havens, and numerous logged over lands. They are also home to nearly 1 million acres of the remaining ancient, old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest.

For the last ten years, these lands have been managed under the Northwest Forest Plan, adopted to correct the mistakes of the past and ensure these forests continue to provide these important public values. These forests can also provide jobs and wood products as a by-product of forest restoration such as thinning young forests that have grown thick since being clearcut over the last 10-80 years.

With this WOPR proposal, the BLM would remove itself from the Northwest Forest Plan, dramatically boost old-growth logging, clearcut (yes, clearcut) forests at a 9 to 1 ratio to thinning, build 1,000 miles of new logging roads in the next ten years, and place timber production above all other forest values. The BLM is looking in the rear-view mirror as a way to move forward, and the future of our communities and forests are going to bear the brunt of the agency’s profit-motivated decision-making.

Federal forests are not simply warehouses of commercial timber waiting to be harvested. The watershed, wildlife, scenic, recreation, biological, historical, cultural and spiritual values associated with America’s forests are cherished and widely recognized. While timber production is one piece of Oregon’s economy, it is only one of a wide variety of resources and values that these forests provide. Additionally, forests supply ecological services such as water filtration, soil stabilization, air purification and climate control that are vital to a healthy future. Rather than hitch our stability to a highly volatile industry that has over-harvested much of the region, we should continue economic diversification and adjust to a leaner, trimmer timber industry based on restoration thinning and fuels reduction, not old-growth clearcutting.

The U.S. government has proposed equally outrageous proposals in the past that have been stopped because people stood up and spoke out on behalf of a better future. The BLM is stuck in a rut and needs help in broadening its scope. The Bush administration is also intent on gutting the 2001 Roadless Rule meant to protect the remaining intact and old growth National Forest stands in the U.S. Doing this along with the WOPR, will mean the end of federal protections for Oregon forests. For more information about these destructive proposals please visit www.oregonheritageforests.org and www.nrdc.org.