Timber groups urge revamp of NW Forest Plan following Pres. Trump's push for more logging

ROSEBURG, Ore. — Timber organizations are calling for action on the Northwest Forest Plan after President Donald Trump issued an executive order for the immediate expansion of American lumber production.

This comes as the U.S. Forest Service considers an amendment to the plan that aims to address fire resilience, economic opportunities, and updated guidance on conserving old growth, with a public comment period that ended in March.

Following the executive order from the president, Douglas Timber Operators, a local forest products organization, issued a letter to the U.S. Forest Service calling for a full revision of the Northwest Forest Plan that was initially written in 1994.

"The Northwest Forest Plan intended to have a basic level of timber harvest, while conserving large areas of so-called old growth forests for the spotted owl," Executive Director Matt Hill said. "The reality of the plan was that the targets intended for timber harvests... never materialized. We've never, here on the Umpqua National Forest, achieved the Northwest Forest Plan targets, and instead of conserving old forest for spotted owls, we've been burning them at a rate far beyond anyone had ever imagined."

A statement from environmental advocacy group Cascadia Wildlands disputes that claim, along with most of the topics Hill mentioned in the letter.

"The mature and old growth forests are far more resilient to wildfires happening than a timber plantation," said Cascadia Wildlands Organizer Madeline Cowen "They are holding more water in their trunks. They are more diverse in their spacing and constructure in the forest and so it's really important that we maintain these forests and manage them in a way that they can thrive with increasing wildfires in the region."

According to the U.S. Forest Service, the forest plan covers 24.5 million acres of federally-managed lands found in western Oregon, Washington, and northwestern California.

According to DTO's letter, the plan provided an annual allowable sale quantity of 78 million board feet that has never been met on the Umpqua National Forest, due to changes to forest service guidance, policies, and legal decisions.

Before the Northwest Forest Plan, timber harvests used to collect more than 300 million board feet of lumber from the Umpqua National Forest, Hill said.

There is a region assigned harvest guideline instead that is around 25 million board feet -- just enough to supply local Douglas County mills for only 14 days out of the year, according to the organization.

The Swanson Group lumber company was established in 1951. Since the development of the forest plan, the company said it has seen several cuts throughout the years, as timber production slowed for local mills.

"At one point the company had six mills," Swanson Group Vice President of Timber Resources Jim Dudley said. "We're down to three. Two of them were closed directly from a lack of federal timber. It's devastating. I mean, it breaks your heart to watch people, that all they did was show up and work hard every day, and they're the ones being punished by a lack of understanding of what it takes to manage a forest."

Cascadia Wildlands does not want to see an increase in production, but would rather see stronger protections on old forest growth.

DTO claims the spotted owl population is on path to extinction under the current plan, saying from 2017 to 2023, the population of territorial owls decreased by around 61% due to wildfires in the Umpqua National Forest.

There are multiple factors that have contributed to the safety of the spotted owl, including habitat destruction, according to Cowen, who said without the Northwest Forest Plan, the species could be extinct.

"These species need these more mature and old growth forest compositions to survive, and if they don't have those forests to live in, then they don't do so great," Cowen said. "Unfortunately, even though there are many areas of land that are designated for their habitat and for their protection, there are countless acres in our state that have been converted and dominated by the industrial forest land."

The U.S. Forest Service held a 120-day public comment period for public engagement that came to an end in March.

A final environmental impact statement will be available for review by the fall, with an estimated timeline of Spring 2026 for the amendment to be complete.