A Whitebark Pine in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest. Photo by Dave Powell, U.S. Forest Service
Senator Wyden’s logging bill for Eastern Oregon forests picked up the support of Senator Merkley today.
Merkley’s office issued a press release saying he’ll co-sponsor the bill, officially known as the Oregon Forest Restoration and Old Growth Protection Act of 2009. It has a first hearing March 10 with the Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests.
The bill has divided Oregon’s environmental community.
Several groups, including Oregon Wild, the Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center and the National Center for Conservation Science and Policy are behind this legislation. They were also among the environmental groups that negotiated with timber companies to put the deal together.
In some ways, it’s a change in how the Forest Service does business.
Instead of timber sales, the Forest Service in Eastern Oregon will work on large scale plans to restore watersheds and old growth forests. Trees larger than 21 inches in diameter won’t be cut. But the timber industry is expected to be able to log more smaller trees through forest thinning projects.
The idea is to stabilize the timber industry in Eastern Oregon by providing it with a more reliable source of wood, but to also protect old growth trees.
It also creates a science advisory panel to guide the process. The deal covers about ten million acres on six national forests.
But it’s controversial because for the first few years under the deal, logging could actually increase, and the public won’t be able to appeal Forest Service decisions. Those are some of the reasons the Hells Canyon Preservation Council came out against it.
The Oregon Sierra Club says it has reservations about the bill, but so far hasn’t taken a public stand.
