Oregon Board of Forestry Votes to Advance Western Oregon State Forests Habitat Conservation Plan

On Thursday, the Oregon Board of Forestry (OBF) voted 4–3 to advance the Western Oregon State Forests Habitat Conservation Plan, The Oregon Capital Chronicle reported (3-7-24). It next goes to federal agencies for approval and is likely to be finalized by early 2025.

The plan has been decades in the making, but its development was accelerated around 2018, and again in 2023, following lawsuits over species loss in Oregon’s western forests. Officials say a habitat conservation plan approved by the federal government is necessary for the state to avoid lawsuits under the federal Endangered Species Act.

If implemented, it will regulate logging and conservation on about 630,000 acres of state forests for the next 70 years to protect 17 threatened or endangered species, The Oregon Capital Chronicle reported. The volume of wood permitted for harvest from those western state forests will drop by about 20%. On average, those forests would produce about 185 million board feet of timber each year rather than 225 million board feet currently produced.