| Rulemaking to Change Management of State-owned Forest Lands |
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This rulemaking process is associated with the management of state-owned forest lands.
The changes for the Northwest Oregon State Forests Management Plan were approved April 22, 2010 by the Oregon Board of Forestry. Approximately 630,000 acres of forestland located in the Tillamook, Clatsop and Santiam State Forests, and scattered tracts located of the Coast Range (Polk, Benton, Lincoln and Lane counties) are affected.
The changes for the Southwest Oregon State Forest Management Plan were also approved by the Board of Forestry on April 22, 2010 and affect approximately 18,000 acres of scattered tracts located in southwest Oregon.
In total, these lands comprise less than 3 percent of Oregon’s forestland.
Public hearings and comments
Change adjusts long-term landscape goal for older forests, habitat strategies
Board of Forestry authorized rulemaking process
Plans retain many aspects of original plans
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| Public hearings and comments |
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Two public hearings on these changes were held - one on January 26 in Salem and one on January 28 in Seaside. A public comment period for written comments originally ran from January 1 through January 29, and was extended to February 12. Oregon Department of Forestry staff provided this information to the Board for its review.
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Hearing
Statement of Fiscal Need and Impact
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| Change adjusts long-term landscape goal for older forests, habitat strategies |
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A change to the Northwest plan adjusts the long-term landscape goal for complex (older) forests from 40-60 percent of the landscape to 30-50 percent.
Structure-based Management Goals
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2001 Plan
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2010 Revised Plan |
| Regeneration |
5-15% |
15-25% |
| Closed Single Canopy |
10-20% |
5-15% |
| Understory |
15-35% |
30-40% |
| Layered* |
20-30% |
15-25% |
| Older Forest Structure* |
20-30% |
15-25% |
* Complex structure is a combined total of Layered and Older Forest Structure
This adjustment will allow for greater economic returns through timber harvest, but still at a level of estimated outputs under (72 percent) an industrial model.
For both the Northwest and Southwest plans, the Board of Forestry approved language for implementing new strategies for species of concern.
These strategies consider additional conservation tools when it is determined the plan’s integrated strategies are not yet fully maintaining and enhancing habitat for a species. The strategies will replace all references to a proposed federal habitat conservation plan that was not completed.
The list of species that will be considered during annual operations planning is comprised of 40 species, including federal or state threatened and endangered species. This species list was identified by the Oregon Departments of Fish and Wildlife and Forestry.
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| Board of Forestry authorized rulemaking process |
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In September 2009, the Oregon Board of Forestry authorized the agency to proceed with rulemaking on proposed revisions to the Northwest and Southwest Oregon Forest Management Plans.
When the Board of Forestry adapts the management of these lands, a formal rulemaking process is required because a forest management plan is adopted as administrative rule by the Board of Forestry once it has approved a plan (629-035-0030 6(a)).
The Board of Forestry considered results from the rulemaking process at its April 2010 meeting.
After the Board of Forestry approved the final rule text, the proposed changes are adopted as permanent administrative rules, and on-the-ground changes in management of these forestlands will take effect following revisions to implementation plans.
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