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Northwest Forest Plan Map
Northwest Forest Plan Physiographic Provinces
[Image: Regional Ecosystem Office]

The Northwest Forest Plan coordinates management of 24.5 million acres of land in Oregon, Washington, and northern California. The Regional Ecosystem Office provides staff work and support to facilitate the committees that implement the Plan. The Regional Ecosystem Office web site is the central location for dissemination of information related to the Northwest Forest Plan.

Northwest Forest Plan
Northwest Forest Plan Graphic
USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region

Federal forest lands west of the Cascade Range in Washington and Oregon are governed by the Northwest Forest Plan, which was developed following the Presidential Forest Summit of 1993. Lands east of the Cascades were studied extensively in the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project.

The Northwest Forest Plan has three parts: a program for managing the forests to achieve both sustainable timber production and protection of biological diversity; a system for coordinating federal agency implementation of the forest management effort and receiving advice from non-federal interests; and an initiative for providing economic assistance and job retraining to displaced timber workers, communities, and others who were adversely affected by reductions in the size of the timber program.

Documents and Decisions of the Northwest Forest Plan
Showing 21 Results
CollapseBLM and USDA Forest Service Issue Survey and Manage Supplement under the Northwest Forest Plan
Description: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Oregon State Office and the USDA Forest Service Region 6 announced that they have released a Supplement to the 2006 Draft Supplement to the 2004 Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS) To Remove or Modify the Survey and Manage Mitigation Measure Standards and Guidelines.
Resource Type: Announcements and News Articles, Management Plans and Reports
Resource Format: PDF
Publisher: United States Department of Interior Bureau of Land Management
ExpandClinton Administration's Forest Plan for the Pacific Northwest
ExpandFailure of the Northwest Forest Plan to Protect and Restore the Region
ExpandFinal Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for Amendment to the Survey & Manage, Protection Buffer, and Other Mitigation Measures Standards and Guidelines, Volume 1
ExpandFinal Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for Amendment to the Survey & Manage, Protection Buffer, and Other Mitigation Measures Standards and Guidelines, Volume 2
ExpandHandbook to Strategy 1 Fungal Species in the Northwest Forest Plan
ExpandLate-Successional and Old-Growth Forest Effectiveness Monitoring Plan for the Northwest Forest Plan
ExpandMarbled Murrelet Effectiveness Monitoring Plan for the Northwest Forest Plan
ExpandMemorandum of Understanding for Management Under the Northwest Forest Plan at the Regional Level
ExpandNatural History and Management Considerations for Northwest Forest Plan - Survey and Manage - Lichens
ExpandNorthern Spotted Owl Effectiveness Monitoring Plan for the Northwest Forest Plan
ExpandNorthwest Forest Plan Overview
ExpandNorthwest Forest Plan Research Synthesis
ExpandRecord of Decision for Amendments to Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management Planning Documents within the Range of the Northern Spotted Owl
ExpandRecord of Decision for Amendments to the Survey and Manage, Protection Buffer, and Other Mitigation Measures Standards and Guidelines
ExpandRecord of Decision to Remove or Modify the Survey and Manage Mitigation Measure Standards and Guidelines in Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management Planning Documents Within the Range of the Northern Spotted Owl
ExpandStandards and Guidelines for Management of Habitat for Late-Successional and Old-Growth Forest Related Species Within the Range of the Northern Spotted Owl
ExpandStrategy and Design of the Effectiveness Monitoring Program for the Northwest Forest Plan
ExpandSurvey and Manage 2006
ExpandSurvey Protocols for Amphibians Under the Survey and Manage Provision of the Northwest Forest Plan, Version 3.0
ExpandSustainability of the Northwest Forest Plan - Dynamic vs. Static Management

Genesis of the Northwest Forest Plan

Northern Spotted Owl 
Northern Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) [Image: J&K Hollingsworth, United States Fish and Wildlife Service]

The Northwest Forest Plan evolved from the Pacific Northwest timber crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s. During this time, declining employment in the commercial timber industry due to increased automation and reduced timber supply coincided with the listing of the northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) as an endangered species and the resultant closure of federal lands to logging.

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