Letter: Protect and restore

Published 12:15 am Thursday, July 11, 2024

Thirty years ago, the Northwest Forest Plan was developed under the Clinton administration. It aimed to protect and restore old-growth forest and healthy stream habitat for threatened species, covering forestlands in western Oregon and Washington and northwestern California.

Today, the U.S. Forest Service is updating the NWFP. The original plan did not adequately consult Indigenous peoples or account for the impact of climate change on wildfire behavior, water systems, imperiled species and communities.

A draft of the update was published before the meeting of the Northwest Forest Plan Area Advisory Committee June 25-27 in Olympia, Washington; the update should be complete by the end of this year. Ideally, President Joe Biden will sign an executive order to ensure protection for mature and old growth forests, and close a loophole allowing logging under the pretext of forest health or fire management. There is significant documentation of the role that mature and old growth forests have on climate, severity of wildfire and biodiversity.

The USFS has increased the cutting of timber from our national forests, and made it harder for people to challenge ecologically damaging timber sales. Its priority should be climate mitigation and biodiversity. To get involved, see the plan update page at bit.ly/NWForestPlan and sign up for updates.

GREG JACOB

Hillsboro