Scientists Applaud Northwest Forest Plan Anniversary While Calling for More Forest Protections
For Immediate Release on September 28, 2015
Contacts: Dr. Dominick A. DellaSala, Geos Institute, Chief Scientist; 541-482-4459 x 302; 541-621-7223 (cell);Dominick@geosinstitute.org; Dr. James Karr 360-681-3163; jrkarr@olypen.com; and Dr. Barry R. Noon 970-491-7905; barry.noon@colostate.edu
Ashland, OR – Two decades of monitoring and recent scientific studies show that the integrity of old-growth forests and the viability of salmon and spotted owl populations would be far worse today if not for the Northwest Forest Plan. Published in a special feature on forests and biodiversity in the open access journal Forests, “Building on two decades of ecosystem management and biodiversity conservation under the Northwest Forest Plan, USA” is the most comprehensive assessment to date of the plan’s effectiveness in halting the long-term decline in the region’s federal forests.
According to the lead author, Dr. Dominick A. DellaSala, “in the 1980s federal agencies were clear-cutting 2 square miles of old-growth forests every week, an area equivalent to over 1160 football fields. If that rate of logging continued unchecked, it would have eliminated most old-growth forests along with their clean water, climate regulation, and fish and wildlife benefits sometime this decade.”
The Northwest Forest Plan adopted by President Bill Clinton in 1994 shifted federal lands management from timber production to ecosystem management and biodiversity conservation within the range of the federally threatened Northern Spotted Owl. The Forest Service is considering revising the plan while the Bureau of Land Management recently proposed to back away from protections for streams and imperiled species.
The published study relied on peer-reviewed literature and agency monitoring reports demonstrating the Northwest Forest Plan had:
- Improved stream conditions and water quality for 214 watersheds due to streamside protections from logging and restoration of failing roads;
- Provided ecosystem benefits in the form of long-term carbon storage (important in climate regulation) and high quality drinking water for millions of people;
- Slowed declines of the Northern Spotted Owl and Marbled Murrelet;
- Protected hundreds of imperiled plants and wildlife species from logging;
- Supported a shift toward restoration thinning of plantations and fuel reduction;
- Decoupled Oregon counties from reliance on unsustainable timber receipts; and
- Sustained quality of life benefits that facilitated regional economic diversification.
Dr. Barry Noon, who led development of the plan’s monitoring program, stated: “The Northwest Forest Plan remains grounded in the best available science. It is essential that its protections not only be maintained but extended to compensate for much increased logging impacts on State and private lands.”
One of the plan’s greatest accomplishments is how it improved water resources, including stream habitat, health of stream communities (salmon and other species), and water quality for fish and people. Dr. Jim Karr, University of Washington, has monitored stream conditions in the region and across the Nation for decades. “Given climate change and continued logging on nonfederal lands, the science is compelling to expand stream protections rather than reduce them, as recently proposed by BLM. Now is not the time to backpedal on the plan’s success.”
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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.
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.
Michael is a former Founding Principal of Resilient Cities Catalyst, a global non-profit helping cities and their partners tackle their toughest challenges. He is currently the Executive Director of Climate Resilience Academy at the University of Miami.
Dr. Quintus Jett is a consultant, educator, and strategist for public causes. He has a doctorate in Organizations & Management from Stanford University, and a two-decade faculty career which spans schools, departments, and programs of business, engineering, liberal studies, divinity, and public and nonprofit management. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Dr. Jett launched a volunteer project in New Orleans, which enlisted residents, students from over a dozen colleges and universities, and hundreds of others to field map the city’s Gentilly district, Lower Ninth Ward, and New Orleans East. Dr. Jett is an innovator in higher education, bridging the divide between academic research and the other priorities of the modern university, including student access and diversity, community engagement, and providing foundations for life-long learning in today’s rapidly changing world.
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.