BLM forest management proposal would increase timber harvest
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More money for Lane County could come at the expense of habitat for at-risk species under a federal forest management plan proposed Thursday that could more than triple the annual timber harvest.
Bureau of Land Management officials said they want public feedback as they finalize a plan to best manage 2.1 million acres of public forests in Western Oregon. In Lane County, the BLM manages 285,000 acres, almost 10 percent of the county.
For the past 13 years, the Northwest Forest Plan has guided BLM timber production decisions. But three years ago, the agency settled a lawsuit that found it had failed to fulfill its financial obligations to Oregon counties under a law passed in 1937.
That law concerned public forests in 18 Oregon counties and directed that the lands be managed for permanent timber production to provide for the economic stability of local communities, while also protecting watersheds.
The 1994 Northwest Forest Plan - created to protect threatened species such as the northern spotted owl - permitted harvest of 205 million board feet annually on BLM lands, but actual timber harvest has averaged 134 million board feet.
In revising its management strategy to meet the terms of the legal settlement, the BLM considered three alternatives and on Thursday indicated its preference for the option that extracts the most timber.
That plan would produce an annual harvest of 727 million board feet of lumber. The counties would receive 50 percent of the revenue from those sales.
While the money would not match what the counties receive from the annual Secure Rural School payments - support mandated by Congress to make up for lost timber revenue in the 1990s - it would come close. Officials estimate counties would get $108 million annually. In 2005, the BLM's portion of the Secure Rural School's payment was $115 million.
That means a lot to counties facing the loss of Secure Rural Schools funds after this year. Lane County stands to get about $16.5 million annually under the proposal. The agency also estimates 3,442 new jobs and $136.5 million in wages annually statewide.
To get to that level of production, the BLM would reduce the size of reserves now set aside for at-risk species, clear-cut forests that aren't designated as critical habitat, reduce the size of buffers along streams that provide shade and bank stabilization, and allow post-fire salvage logging.
Environmental activists blasted the proposal. They say it fails to meet the requirements of the Clean Water, Clean Air and Endangered Species acts, putting fish and wildlife at risk and leading to yet another round of contentious litigation.
"It is the single most damaging proposal that the BLM has offered for decades," said Dan Kruse, staff attorney for the Cascadia Wildlands Project. The nonprofit Eugene organization isn't against timber production, but wants to see more thinning on younger dense stands of trees, Kruse said.
"We don't believe Oregonians should have to choose between county services and the last remaining old growth," Kruse said.
But the BLM plan is attractive to those who are familiar with county budget woes, said Anna Morrison, a former Lane County Commissioner and member of Citizens for Sustainable Forests and Communities, an organization formed to encourage public involvement in the BLM decision.
"I am hoping that the majority of citizens understand what this means, that it's not cutting every tree," she said. "There's got to be a balance that can be accepted, that can meet the service needs of people and still meet recreation and forest health needs."
BLM officials said they're eager for public comments and that their decision isn't yet written in stone.
"We know we can make this alternative better and we're asking the public to help us improve it," said Ed Sheppard, BLM state director.
The agency will take public comments through Nov. 9. A final environmental impact statement on the proposal will be completed in spring 2008.
The 1,600-page draft of that report is available at local BLM offices and on the Web site.
BLM FOREST PLAN
There are a couple of ways to learn more about the plan and comment:
Open houses: 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Sept. 8, and 3 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sept. 19 at the BLM Eugene office, 2890 Chad Drive. A public technical briefing is tentatively scheduled for 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 10. Check for meetings in other communities at www.blm.gov/or/plans/wopr/files/media_handouts/Public%20Meetings.pdf
Online: See the plan at www.blm.gov/or/plans/wopr/DEIS.php. A forum for commenting will be available at the site on Wednesday.