By Ed Shepard and Mike Mottice
In March, the Bureau of Land Management announced our intent to revise plans for 2.5 million acres of forestlands in Western Oregon. An important outcome of the planning process is to find a way to help shore up the finances of our Western Oregon counties and at the same time provide clean water and habitat for endangered species.
In December 2010, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar hosted an Oregon Forest Summit in Washington, D.C. Dozens of stakeholders voiced familiar concerns: conserve old-growth, provide jobs and reduce wildfire risk. Secretary Salazar urged participants to "get past the gridlock and litigation" and directed the BLM to pilot the "ecological forestry" concepts of two of the nation's leading forest scientists, Norm Johnson and Jerry Franklin.
The pilots are in various stages, but one thing is clear — people are ready, willing and able to talk about these forestry principles as a possible path forward, especially in the drier forests. The BLM needs a new plan to consider this approach, and other ideas, across the landscape.
Amidst public debate about how to manage these lands we are hearing some agreement. Sometimes you have to listen carefully, but when you do, you will hear many say that something must be done now to assist our counties and communities. There is growing public support for projects that improve forest health and reduce the risk of wildfire.
We also hear some agreement about the value of forest diversity and the importance of older forests. The BLM planning process provides a forum to forge additional agreement and explore ways to resolve remaining differences in consideration of the important social, economic and ecological values at stake.
These three values might be viewed as the three legs of a "sustainability" stool — when all are present, the stool is stable and supportive. Remove or shorten one leg, however, and the stool topples over. We must find a way to balance economic needs with the capacity of its lands and not force a false choice between the environment and our communities. Making sustainable decisions requires all sides to come to the table to find solutions that fairly represent others' interests — the other legs of the stool — as well as their own.
Public meetings start May 16 in Medford and are scheduled in Grants Pass, Klamath Falls, Salem, Springfield, Coos Bay, Roseburg and Portland through June 5. After the meetings, we will provide additional opportunities for the public to participate. One idea is to hold "solutions summits," a series of short, facilitated, collaborative workshops designed to focus on possible solutions to key questions.
We recognize there are other approaches being considered for these lands, including the discussion draft of the O&C Trust proposal introduced by Congressmen Peter DeFazio, Kurt Schrader and Greg Walden. Our shared goal is a sustainable solution and there is tremendous public benefit in a wide-open dialogue.
The management of public forests in Western Oregon is ultimately a balancing act. Sustainable decisions provide for successful, long-term outcomes and can be implemented with a high degree of certainty because they have a reasonable level of social acceptance. We need this balanced, sustainable approach in Western Oregon. We urge everyone to participate in all these discussions and be part of the solution.
We'll start by listening.
Ed Shepard is state director for the BLM in Oregon/Washington. He will be retiring in June. Mike Mottice is associate state director and will serve as the interim state director.
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