The American Forest Resource Council (AFRC) today welcomed the Department of the Interior’s Notice of Intent to initiate a revision of the Bureau of Land Management’s Resource Management Plans governing the O&C Lands in western Oregon.
The action begins a long-overdue reassessment of the 2016 management plans that have constrained active forest management on more than two million acres of some of the most productive timberlands in the world.
The O&C Act of 1937 requires these unique lands to be managed under principles of sustained yield timber production, with revenues shared with western Oregon counties to fund essential public services. For decades, that framework supported family-wage jobs, stable county budgets, and healthy, working forests.
“The Department of the Interior is taking an important and necessary step,” said AFRC President Travis Joseph. “The O&C Lands were set aside by Congress to be actively managed for the benefit of O&C counties and rural communities in Western Oregon. The 2016 plans failed to meet a clear legal mandate and limited the ability of land managers to responsibly steward these lands.”
By placing nearly 80 percent of the O&C land base into reserves that prohibit sustained yield management, the 2016 plans severely restricted timber harvests and undermined the revenues that Congress intended for western Oregon counties. The result has been fewer resources for law enforcement, public health, and basic infrastructure in rural communities.
At the same time, BLM lands in western Oregon continue to grow significantly more timber each year than is harvested, contributing to overstocked forest conditions and increasing the risk of catastrophic wildfire across much of the region.
“Active, science-based forest management improves resiliency and reduces wildfire risk,” Joseph said. “When harvest levels fall far below growth, forests become denser, more vulnerable to insects and disease, and more susceptible to high-severity fire. That is not sustainable management. The status quo is not working for our forests, communities, and the working people who steward them.”
AFRC emphasized that revising the RMPs presents an opportunity to restore balance to O&C Lands management by aligning federal policy with statutory requirements, modern forest science, and the economic realities facing rural Oregon.
“If we manage the O&C Lands sustainably and responsibly, current and future generations will benefit,” Joseph said. “They can support thousands of additional family-wage jobs, provide renewable building materials, strengthen domestic wood supply, reduce wildfire risk, and generate stable revenue for essential public services. But that only happens if we modernize our current approach and restore common sense, science-based management to all of the O&C Lands.”
AFRC expressed its commitment to working constructively with the Department of the Interior, BLM, O&C counties, and stakeholders throughout the revision process.
“We appreciate the Department’s leadership in initiating this review,” Joseph said. “This is a unique and rare opportunity to restore responsible management to the O&C Lands and ensure they once again support both healthy forests and healthy communities.”