The United States Forest Service has issued a notice of intent to update the Northwest Forest Plan. This plan hasn’t been updated in 30 years and is the broader plan that dictates how 17 national forests and 25 million acres of land is managed across the northwest states. This plan will affect 25,483,300 acres, which is the same amount of land as the entire state of Kentucky. Comments from the public will be accepted on this stage of the planning effort through February 2, 2024.
The Northwest Forest Plan will affect the following national forests:
- Klamath National Forest All Units
- Lassen National Forest All Units
- Mendocino National Forest All Units
- Modoc National Forest All Units
- Six Rivers National Forest All Units
- Shasta Trinity National Forest All Units
- Deschutes National Forest All Units
- Fremont-Winema National Forest All Units
- Gifford Pinchot National Forest All Units
- Mt Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest All Units
- Mt. Hood National Forest All Units
- Olympic National Forest All Units
- Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest All Units
- Siuslaw National Forest All Units
- Umpqua National Forest All Units
- Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest All Units
- Willamette National Forest All Units
All of these forests are known as the Northwest Forest. There is a Northwest Advisory Committee that will give recommendations to start the process of updating the Northwest Forest Plan. The notice of intent is the first step in the NEPA process. As the USFS has identified a need to update the plan due to changes in local communities and climate change.
The advisory committee for the northwest forest will meet February 2, 2024 to also give recommendations and feedback. The USFS needs to hear from the public that access and proper management of these forests are crucial as most of them have seen catastrophic wildfires in the past decade. Fill in the information below to submit a comment. Please edit the comment with your own personal experiences if you see fit.
