MAPLETON, Ore. - On Wednesday, a group of Oregon loggers and conservationists got a firsthand look at a federal forest where timber is harvested without legal battles, and the environment is thriving, too. They toured sites in the Siuslaw National Forest, where what is now known as "restorative" forest management began as an experiment 20 years ago.
Jim Furnish, who led the field trip, was the Siuslaw Forest supervisor at the time. He says there were plenty of skeptics when they started selectively thinning areas that had been clear-cut and replanted, with a goal of producing old-growth trees for the future, as well as a reliable timber harvest.
"Now, we have an enduring, sustainable, resolute model on the Siuslaw, that generates a lot of timber; it generates a lot of revenue. It generates good fish and wildlife habitat. I would argue it's a great example of restoration forestry."
Furnish went on to become a deputy chief of the U.S. Forest Service, and has since retired. He points out that the Siuslaw is still managed for restoration, and hasn't had its timber harvests challenged by conservation groups in more than a decade.
A new report, "Ecologically Appropriate Restoration Thinning in the Northwest Forest Plan Area," estimates there's enough timber thinning and restoration work to be done in western Oregon forests to keep crews busy for 20 years, without the controversy that comes from logging older trees. Report author Andy Kerr, with the Larch Company, says this approach would mean 44 percent more federal timber volume going to local mills.
"This additional increment of volume in the report would equate to 2,700 new timber jobs in logging and hauling and milling, and related jobs. So, there's a way to create jobs in an environmentally-friendly manner - we ought to be doing it."
The report was released jointly by Conservation Northwest, the Geos Institute, the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, and Oregon Wild.
And the latest harvest figures from the Bureau of Land Management show on its turf in western Oregon, more federal timber is being sold in some areas than their district targets under the Northwest Forest Plan. Kerr, a longtime Oregon conservationist, says it's proof that the plan is working, despite some timber industry claims that it doesn't allow them to cut enough trees.
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Crews have been ramping up wildfire resilience projects to thin out brush and dead wood in California's giant sequoia groves, clearing twice as many acres in 2023 compared with 2022.
The Giant Sequoia Lands Coalition is trying to avoid a repeat of the disastrous mega-fires of 2020 and 2021 - which killed about 20% of large mature trees in their native Sierra Nevada range.
Joanna Nelson, Ph.D. is the director of science and conservation planning with the nonprofit Save the Redwoods League.
"We remove fuel," said Nelson, "we get to a safe place to do prescribed burning and to do cultural burning - which is always led by Indigenous people, which is another practice of taking care of the forest and reducing wildfire risk."
Sequoia National Park is just one part of California's giant sequoia groves, which stretch over 26,000 acres.
A new report shows that in 2023, the program treated nearly 9,900 acres in 28 groves - and more than 14,000 since 2021.
Crews have also planted 542,000 native tree seedlings in severely burned areas over the past two years.
Nelson said the groves must be re-treated about every 8 to 10 years.
"The cost of inaction is loss of giant sequoias in their native range," said Nelson. "And big fires that spread because of the fuel continuity. We risk further loss of trees that are anywhere from 1,000 to 3,000 years old if we do nothing."
The groves have built up quite a bit of dead wood fuel because, until the last few decades, it had been national policy to suppress almost all fire - which led to intense firestorms that incinerated entire groves of old-growth trees.
It is now understood that judicious use of fire can clear out the understory and be beneficial to the forest.
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The Bureau of Land Management has proposed expanding the public land available for solar power production in 11 states, including Montana.
The BLM's Western Solar Plan builds on a version first released in 2012 and focuses on harnessing the potential in Western and Plains states most amenable to solar production.
Nick Fitzmaurice, energy transition engineer for the Montana Environmental Information Center, said the expanded plan reflects the country's growing demand for solar energy.
"It's projected that 700,000 acres of solar development are going to be needed to meet future clean goals, and in the range of about 5,000 of those acres are going to be in Montana," Fitzmaurice explained. "It's a small part of the picture but important that all our open land that is able to contribute to solar can do so."
The Wilderness Society released a statement supporting the proposed Western Solar Plan expansion. The BLM is taking public comment on it until April 18.
The BLM has already done an environmental impact statement, which can sometimes be a stumbling block for such projects.
Fitzmaurice pointed out Montana was not part of the first Western Solar Plan. He thinks adding the state and having the BLM involved in siting the facilities will be crucial as Montana takes advantage of its alternative energy opportunities.
"It's really important that BLM gets ahead of this," Fitzmaurice asserted. "As these applications for development come in, they are able to be sited and put in locations that will minimize the impact on this important public land resource that we have."
Fitzmaurice added the plan proposes solar facilities be built near existing power transmission lines but not near culturally sensitive areas of Montana. Critics of the proposal said additional solar development could threaten wildlife species and habitat.
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The remote landscape of southeastern Oregon is receiving additional protections.
The Bureau of Land Management has finalized its resource management plan for the southeast corner of the state and it includes protections for parts of the Owyhee and Malheur Rivers and canyon lands in the region.
Michael O'Casey, deputy director of forest policy and Northwest programs for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, said it's an exciting announcement, which will protect sensitive landscape from activities like surface development and road building.
"When that landscape is impacted, it's really hard to bring it back and restore it," O'Casey pointed out. "And so, it's really important to protect the places out there that are healthy and intact and resistant. And resilience is a term that we use, to stresses from climate change or whatever else."
O'Casey noted the plan still allows for traditional uses of the land like hunting and fishing. The BLM's final resource management plan for the district covers four-point-six million acres of public land.
O'Casey stressed the agency deliberated for years on this decision.
"This planning process was initiated in 2010 and so it's been 14 years in the making," O'Casey emphasized. "The good news is that, even though it's been a really long time, was that there was a really robust public comment process throughout this."
O'Casey added appointing the Southeast Oregon Resource Advisory Council in 2014 was an important part of public involvement. The council was made up of a wide variety of area people including grazing, energy and conservation interests, who made recommendations for management in the region.
Support for this reporting was provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts.
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