BLM Releases Management Plan for 2.6 Million Acres in Oregon

Public forests and rivers are the pride of Southern Oregon and Northern California. They provide our communities with clean water, recreation, and scenic views. They are a safe place for fish and wildlife, for towering ancient forests and for all of us to get outside and experience nature.

The Bureau of Land Management administers the public forests that surround communities in Western Oregon. These are our backyard forests, and KS Wild has been working to protect these public lands for nearly 20 years. Places like the Wild Rogue River, the Applegate Valley foothills and rare plant hotspots in the Illinois Valley deserve our best conservation efforts.

The BLM recently released new plans for these public lands to guide management in the future. This includes direction for logging, road building, recreation, wildland fire safety, and protection of creeks and rivers. While the BLM proposes to increase logging by nearly 40%, timber executives and elected officials want to ramp up logging to even more astronomical levels. Some counties are now threatening to file suit over the plans, demanding that 500 million board feet be logged off of BLM land in Western Oregon every year.

The BLM’s plans put key conservation values at-risk, and the counties and industries are going to court to mandate an even worse future for our forests. The counties won’t be happy unless there is a plan that would require clearcutting across vast swaths of these public forests. KS Wild is going to stand up for these forests and watersheds. Please join us and let’s raise our voices for wild rivers, towering forests, and fish and wildlife.