Federal Forest Planning
Pacific Rivers Council works to protect important regional federal forest plans that have been designed using the best available science, and that strive to recover aquatic ecosystems. Our primary efforts are focused on the Northwest Forest Plan, new legislation promoting large-scale thinning projects, and the Sierra Nevada Framework.
Western Oregon Plan Revisions
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) currently manages almost 2.6 million acres in western Oregon under the Northwest Forest Plan (NW Forest Plan). The NW Forest Plan was developed through an unparalleled effort to integrate the best available scientific knowledge. It has proven over ten years to be an effective strategy to continue cutting timber while conserving rivers, fish and wildlife. The NW Forest Plan conserves forested aquatic ecosystems through the Aquatic Conservation Strategy, which establishes riparian buffers where timber harvest is prohibited, provides extra protection to key watersheds, limits activities both streamside and upland that interfere with aquatic health objectives, emphasizes watershed restoration, and requires scientific analysis for some individual watersheds. Recently, the BLM eliminated many of the protections provided by the NW Forest Plan on BLM lands in western Oregon - and its plans were a recipe for dirty water and dead fish. Fortunately, the Obama Administration decided to withdraw the final decision.
Legislation Promoting Large-Scale Thinning Projects
Over the last couple of years, PRC has been dedicated to engaging fellow conservationists and Congressional staff in discussions about how proposed thinning legislation could harm aquatic species and water quality, and what language must be included in this kind of legislation to minimize the harm caused by implementing the legislation. Such legislation could alter regional forest planning efforts such as the Northwest Forest Plan and the Strategies for Managing Watersheds in Eastern Oregon and Washington, Idaho, Western Idaho, and Portions of California and Nevada.
Sierra Nevada
For many years the Pacific Rivers Council has worked diligently with the Forest Service, independent scientists, and fellow conservationists to ensure that watersheds in the Sierra Nevada are managed in an ecologically sound manner -- the same watersheds that produce 60% of California's drinking water and provide invaluable habitat for imperiled species such as the California golden trout, the mountain yellow-legged frog, and the Yosemite toad. After a decade of research and planning, in 2001 the Forest Service unveiled a management plan for the 11 national forests in the Sierra -- called the Framework -- which represented an important step toward achieving the goal of aquatic health. The 2001 Framework amended the management plans for the eleven national forests within California's Sierra Nevada Mountain Range and the Modoc Plateau. But in 2004, under pressure from grazing and other resource industry interests, the Bush administration adopted a new Framework that inappropriately weakened protections of meadows and allowed for a massive increase in road-building without providing any environmental analysis or scientific rationale.
National Forest Management Act
In 2009, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced that the Forest Service would begin a major nationwide collaborative process to create a modern forest planning rule capable of addressing the current and future needs of the 193 million acre National Forest System. This announcement came after the new Obama Administration declared that scientific integrity would be brought back to the White House, and was welcomed by scientists and conservationists, who, like PRC, had actively opposed adoption of the planning rules proposed by former President Bush.
