It’s time to give “informal feedback” on the future of the Blue Mountains Forest Plans

Where are we at in the process?

Recently, the Blue Mountains Forest planning team released a document called the “Preliminary Need to Change”, which outlines why they are revising the forest plans and what issues should be addressed in new ones. This document will become the basis of the new forest plans, and will even influence nitty-gritty (but important!) details like standards and guidelines for how all of Eastern Oregon forests are managed for the foreseeable future.

This document makes the case for the agency getting a new crop of forest plans that are more flexible with fewer limitations, and fails to recognize this invaluable opportunity to analyze and protect habitat connectivity across all three national forests. “Informal feedback” is being accepted until November 7th.

How can I get involved? The Forest Service is asking for “informal feedback” online or by mail through Thursday, November 7th. Public meetings will also be held in 8 local towns the first two weeks of December.

What are GHCC’s concerns?

Some of the information in the Preliminary Need to Change document is not surprising - the old forest plans are obviously outdated and need to be revised. This goes without saying!

But the agency’s ever-present desire for more flexibility and less stringent regulations is always concerning. While we understand that regulations can sometimes be a burden, that’s just the nature of doing business with an agency that’s this big and has many competing priorities. What some call burdensome regulations, others call safeguards, backstops, or guardrails – key rules that protect vulnerable resources from being outcompeted by economic priorities.

If you have time to submit a brief comment, here are a few things to consider:

New forest plans should…

• Analyze for forest-wide and inter-forest habitat connectivity across all three National Forests in the planning area.

• Contain well articulated limitations that provide strong protections for native species and their habitats. This includes mature and old-growth forests, unroaded lands, riparian areas, native grasslands, and more.

• Include substantial input from those with local knowledge, but not value it higher than the best available science.

• Acknowledge that fire has a key natural role to play on the landscape, and discuss at length how beneficial fire can be used to reach management objectives.

• Not shy away from addressing road densities, which are far above what is desirable for many wildlife species. In the Blue Mountains Ecoregion, there are nearly 26,000 miles of roads – enough to drive around the world!

You can read the (mercifully, only 10 page) Draft Preliminary Need to Change document here.

When the Forest Service released this Preliminary Need document, they also released the Final Summary Assessment report as well as 20 other specialist-report style documents that focus on specific resource/issue areas (socioeconomics, aquatic, soil, carbon, etc.). They do not seem to be seeking comments on any of those documents, but since all of this is outside the NEPA process still, anything is up for discussion.