Western Oregon State Forest Habitat Conservation Plan

Ferns in the forestThe Oregon Board of Forestry directed the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) to move forward with development of a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) for timber harvest and overall management of state forest lands in western Oregon. The effort aimed at ensuring programmatic compliance with the Endangered Species Act, related ODF planning and management efficiencies and cost savings, and improved certainty around outcomes for timber harvest, conservation, county revenues, and other public values. An HCP would include Board of Forestry-owned public lands (e.g., Tillamook and Clatsop State Forests) and possibly Common School Fund lands (with the exception of Elliott State Forest). Oregon Consensus managed the collaborative process.

Photo: Jeannie Nadja Studios, Wikimedia Commons