Defenders' Experts
Northwest Forest Plan
The Northwest Forest Plan, adopted in 1995, established land allocations and
land management practices for some 24 million acres of federal land, most of it
conifer forests. The plan is complex and addresses biodiversity conservation at
multiple levels.
At its heart the plan is a system of late-successional reserves that are intended to provide essential habitat for northern spotted owls and other terrestrial wildlife associated with old-growth forests, as well as protecting streams and aquatic biodiversity.
Riparian conservation areas designated along all streams are intended to provide additional aquatic protections, as well as making some contributions to a well-connected old-growth forest ecosystem and allowing for movement of wildlife among larger blocks of habitat.
The late-successional and riparian reserves are surrounded by a matrix of lands to be managed for timber production while providing limited habitat for wildlife associated with older forests by requiring retention of green trees, snags and logs where logging occurs. Matrix lands would generally be logged on 80-year rotations, limiting the development of old-growth characteristics.
Example of the Northwest Forest Plan: Hayfork Adaptive Management Area
A
350,000 acre area in northern California, in the Klamath, Northwest Sacramento,
and Coastal California physiographic provinces. The Hayfork Adaptive Management
Area is managed by the Shasta-Trinity and Six Rivers National Forests and the
Redding Resource Area of the Bureau of Land Management. Many conservation biologists are looking to the broader landscape for options to help conserve forest biodiversity.
Two landscape-level plans take different management approaches: the Northwest Forest Plan and the Blue River Landscape Study.
The Northwest Forest Plan is a system of late-successional reserves that are intended to provide essential habitat for northern spotted owls and other terrestrial wildlife associated with old-growth forests.
The Blue River Landscape Study is a long-term project designed to test an alternative landscape management strategy based on historical fire regimes and other disturbance processes.
Variable density thinning allows more flexibility to retain existing snags, logs and deciduous trees, as well promoting shrubs and complex canopies.
