Obama Administration Cancels Old Growth Logging Plan
Salmon, water, old-growth forests and climate win!
WASHINGTON, DC
The Obama administration announced today its decision to cancel a Bush era plan that would have harmed salmon, clean water and old-growth forests on 2.6 million acres of public lands in western Oregon.
The Obama administration announced today its decision to cancel a Bush era plan that would have harmed salmon, clean water and old-growth forests on 2.6 million acres of public lands in western Oregon. The highly contentious plan, called the Western Oregon Plan Revision (WOPR), would have increased logging of old growth forests by 400%, harmed threatened salmon spawning streams, healthy old-growth forests, and habitat for rare birds such as the threatened northern spotted owl and marbled murrelet.
The WOPR, a vestige of the Bush administration’s attempts to circumvent laws and unravel protections for public forests under the Northwest Forest Plan, would also have and contributed significantly to global warming through CO2 emissions from logging.
“The highest and best use of these forests are for clean water, wildlife and salmon habitat and carbon sequestration, said Randi Spivak, VP of Government Affairs with the GEOS Institute. “The mature- and old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest store more carbon per acre than almost any other forest on earth, logging them releases a significant amount of CO2 into the atmosphere.”
According to BLM’s own analysis, compared to letting these old forests grow, logging would release approximately 180 million tons of carbon that is currently stored in these forests. This is equivalent to driving 1 million cars for a period of 132 years or the equivalent of operating a 585 Mw coal-fired plant for 36 years.
Preserving older forests can significantly help mitigate climate change through biological carbon sequestration and storage. The latest study just published by Oregon State University titled, Carbon Dynamics and Potential Land-Based Carbon Storage concludes that, “If forests were managed for maximum carbon sequestration total carbon stocks could theoretically double in the Coast Range, West Cascades, Sierra Nevada, and East Cascades and triple in the Klamath Mountains.”
Dominick DellaSala, Chief Scientist and President of the National Center had this to add – “the Obama administration’s decision to cancel the WOPR puts to rest nearly a decade of failed attempts to rollback Northwest forest protections that included political interference in endangered species recovery plans and scientifically flawed management plans for public lands. We look forward to working with the Obama administration to ensure Northwest forests are managed for clean water, endangered species, old forests, and climate security, as was intended under the Northwest Forest Plan.”
“We think the administration needs to now turn its attention to efforts that protect old forests for climate security while restoring overstocked tree plantations, and restoring fish and wildlife habitat that will generate new jobs in restoration”, said Randi Spivak.
For more information, contact Randi Spivak, GEOS Institute, 310-779-4894 or Dominick DellaSala, 541-482-4459 extention 302.
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Robert Macnee, Ph.D. is Deputy Director of Resilience Services at Climate Resilience Consulting, where he helps governments, institutions, and communities reduce climate risk in equitable and practical ways. He holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Management focused on climate change impacts on health and communities, and brings over a decade of experience spanning economic development, resilience planning, and implementation.
Samantha Medlock is President of Climate Risk Advisors, helping communities and organizations advance equity, sustainability, and resilience. Her career began chasing floods as a local official in Texas Flash Flood Alley—a hands-on experience that still shapes her approach to climate and disaster risk management.
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Jim is a multilingual world traveler. Based in Bavaria during the 1970s, Jim spent most of this period in India, Afghanistan and Nepal, where he founded and operated a charitable medical clinic serving Tibetan Refugees. He settled in Oregon in 1983 on a forested ranch in the Umpqua National Forest.
Dr. Micah Hahn is an Associate Professor of Environmental Health in the Institute for Circumpolar Health Studies at the University of Alaska-Anchorage. She received her joint PhD in Epidemiology / Environment and Resources from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her MPH in Global Environmental Health from Emory University. Subsequently, she was a postdoctoral fellow for the CDC Climate and Health Program, and in this position worked collaboratively with the CDC Division of Vector-borne Diseases and the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Her research focuses on understanding the health impacts of climate change and working with communities to develop locally-relevant adaptation and resilience-building strategies. Dr. Hahn is also on the Management Team of the Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center.
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Scott is Monfort Professor of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University. He has written about 100 publications in the peer-reviewed climate literature, is a former editor of the Journal of Climate, and served for five years as founding Science Chair of the North American Carbon Program.
Linda has many years of experience in disaster preparedness and resilience. She has been an elected official on the Linn County Iowa Board of Supervisors, Chair of the Metropolitan Planning Organization, the East Central Iowa Council of Governments, the statewide Mental Health Developmental Disability and the Linn County Board of Health. Langston is a former president of the National Association of Counties (2013-2014).
Ken works with families and organizations as a mediator, organizational consultant, trainer and facilitator. Along with his passion for helping people prepare for and reduce climate change, Ken also volunteers as a mediator through Mediation Works and is passionate about supporting youth through mentoring with Boys to Men of Southern Oregon.
Matthew is a retired high school teacher who was once honored as Oregon High School Social Studies Teacher of the Year. Before his teaching career he was in the restaurant business in Portland. He is also a lawyer who has been a member of the Oregon State Bar Association since 1980.
Andrea is the Resilience Policy Advisor for the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency. She works across state agencies and with local governments to increase the state’s resilience to the impacts of climate change.