Westside Forests

See also my Wilderness page.

My Western Oregon BLM page contains information about ongoing efforts to sell off, sell out, and/or give away federal public forestland in Western Oregon under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management.

"Westside Forests" are generally the term given to forestlands within the range of the Endangered Species Act-listed northern spotted owl.

Reports and Documents

Ecologically Appropriate Restoration Thinning in the Northwest Forest Plan Area: A Policy and Technical Analysis, by Andy Kerr, The Larch Company, June 2012. Published by Conservation Northwest, Geos Institute, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center and Oregon Wild. 91 pages.

Abstract: This report recommends a 20-year program of ecological restoration thinning (ERT) in degraded forests managed under the Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP); which is also the range of the northern spotted owl. ERT is one part of comprehensive restoration to restore forest and watershed health. The commercial timber volume that could result as a byproduct of ERT could be 44% more each year than has been produced on average under the NWFP between 1995-2010. In contrast to much of the timber volume produced to date under the NWFP—that came from mature and old-growth forests—commercial logs from ecological restoration can be produced with little or no controversy. Under the science-based principles and recommendations in this report, intact mature and old-growth forests can be conserved, degraded forests can be restored to late-successional character, and timber volume can increase from federal public forestlands.

Northwest Forest Plan Timber Volumes by Federal Administrative Unit-1995 to 2010. Andy Kerr, The Larch Company, 2012 (Excel worksheet).