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A2 U.S NEWS
Monday 18 noveMber 2024
More logging is proposed to help curb wildfires in the U.S. Pacific
Northwest
By MATTHEW BROWN
Associated Press
U.S. officials would allow increased logging
on federal lands across the Pacific North-
west in the name of fighting wildfires and
boosting rural economies under proposed
changes to a sweeping forest manage-
ment plan that’s been in place for three
decades.
The U.S. Forest Service proposal, released
Friday, would overhaul the Northwest For-
est Plan that governs about 38,000 square
miles (99,000 square kilometers) in Oregon,
Washington and California.
The plan was adopted in 1994 under Presi-
dent Bill Clinton amid pressure to curb de-
structive logging practices that resulted
in widespread clearcuts and destroyed
habitat used by spotted owls. Timber har-
vests dropped dramatically in subsequent
years, spurring political backlash. Old-growth Douglas fir trees stand along the Salmon River Trail, June 25, 2004, in Mt. Hood National Forest outside
But federal officials now say worsening Zigzag, Ore.
wildfires due to climate change mean Associated Press
forests must be more actively managed ging also would provide a more predict- officials said, helping rural society and science since
to increase their resiliency. Increased log- able supply of trees for timber companies, economies that have suf- the Northwest Forest Plan
fered after lumber mills shut was created,” Jacque Bu-
down and forestry jobs dis- chanan, regional forester
appeared. for the Forest Service’s Pa-
The proposal could in- cific Northwest Region,
crease annual timber har- said in a statement. He said
vests by at least 33% and the proposal would help
potentially more than the agency adapt to shift-
200%, according to a draft ing conditions, as global
environmental study. The warming increases the fre-
number of timber-related quency of droughts and
jobs would increase ac- other extreme weather
cordingly. events.
Harvest volumes from the The proposed plan also
17 national forests covered calls for closer cooperation
by the Northwest Forest between the Forest Service
Plan averaged about 445 and Native American tribes
million board feet annually to tap into tribal knowledge
over the past decade, ac- about forest management.
cording to government fig- Tribes were excluded when
ures. the 1994 plan was crafted.
Cutting more trees would Environmentalists greeted
help reduce wildfire risk and the proposal with skepti-
make communities safer, cism. The group Oregon
the study concluded. That Wild said it was “deeply
would be accomplished troubling” that the Forest
in part by allowing cuts in Service would release the
some areas with stands of proposal just ahead of a
trees up to 120 years old change in presidential ad-
— up from the current age ministrations.
threshold of 80 years.The “It appears that the Forest
change could help foster Service wants to abandon
conditions conducive to the fundamental purpose
growing larger, old growth of the Northwest Forest
trees that are more resis- Plan–protecting fish and
tant to fire, by removing wildlife and the mature
younger trees, officials said. and old-growth forests
A separate pending pro- they need to survive,” John
posal from President Joe Persell, an attorney for the
Biden’s administration aims group, said in a statement.
to increase protections During former President
nationwide for old growth Donald Trump’s first term,
trees, which play a signifi- administration officials
cant role in storing climate sought to open millions of
change-inducing carbon acres of West Coast forest
dioxide. to new logging by stripping
“Much has changed in habitat protections.q
