In the final weeks of 2023, two far-reaching policy processes were unveiled that could shape the future of our forests for generations to come.
The Forest Service is developing a plan to amend the Northwest Forest Plan, covering over 24 million acres of national forestlands in Oregon, Washington, and Northern California. The Northwest Forest Plan, enacted in 1993, was a visionary policy that curtailed much of the reckless old-growth clearcutting that ravaged the region in the 1970s and 1980s and set a new standard for the conservation of wildlife, clean water, and public lands forests.
At the same time, the Biden administration has announced a new plan to protect old-growth forests from commercial logging by amending forest plans nationwide. This proposal is a step forward in implementing the administration’s Executive Order on conserving mature and old-growth forests as a climate solution.
Join the Oregon Wild forest team to explore what is at stake with these two proposals. We dive into the origins of and importance of both policies, explore how they could be strengthened, and, importantly, discuss how your advocacy can help shape these processes for the benefit of future generations.
