Northwest Forest Plan: Protecting the Siuslaw National Forest

Today, we’re going to go deep on an incredibly important subject, albeit one with a somewhat less than stirring name if you aren’t already familiar: The northwest forest plan

The northwest forest plan sets the overall management strategy for 17 National Forests across a staggering 24 million acres of federal lands in Washington, Oregon and northwestern California, and the forest service is in the process of changing that plan in a significant way for the first time in its 30 year history!

Those changes could have absolutely massive consequences for the future of some of our most iconic forests, the human and non-human communities that rely on them, and even for the planet.

So it is vitally important that we make sure that the Forest Service amends the northwest forest plan in a way that strengthens forest protections, prioritizing ecosystem health and carbon sequestration.

Sadly, the higher ups in forest service may very well try to use this process as a way to weaken environmental protections and increase logging, even on mature and old growth!

We can’t let that happen.  This is a once in a generation opportunity and threat, and it is going to take massive public pressure and engagement to prevail over the Timber industry machinations that would seek to re-open these forests for wholesale liquidation. 

To talk about all this I’m joined by the Coast Range Association’s Director, Chuck Willer.  We’re going to go through our campaign to educate, activate, and empower local grassroots groups to protect these forests, and why we are focusing our efforts on the Siuslaw National Forest here in the Coast Range.

You can learn more about everything we’ll be talking about today on the home page of our website, coastrange.org.

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