Proposed Douglas-fir National Monument Once Again Up for Discussion

The proposed Douglas-fir National Monument is once again up for discussion, after lying dormant during the Trump administration. A Springfield, Oregon-based nonprofit is again pushing to establish the Douglas-fir National Monument, hoping to raise the prestige of its namesake and to protect its old-growth trees. On the other side of the discussion are the critics who fear that the monument would dictate how private timber growers can use their land or cut down their trees.

Both sides say they are right, but neither side, as of now, is talking to the other.

The Douglas-fir National Monument would sit mostly on the Willamette National Forest in the Cascade foothills. The more than 530,000-acre swath of land, which includes parts of Linn, Marion, and Jefferson counties, would be the largest national monument in Oregon. Douglas-fir would be the 14th largest of the nation’s nearly 130 monuments.

Those petitioning first Trump and now Biden seek to cover a patchwork set of wilderness areas, federally managed land, and some 44,000 acres of private forests.

The Douglas-fir National Monument proposal could soon reach President Biden’s desk for signature under the Antiquities Act of 1906. Local officials in Linn County oppose the project and hope they can stop it from happening.