Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP) OverviewBackground | Goals | Impacted Lands | Federal Partners | Reviews & Exemptions | Monitoring | Home |
|||
Background
& Mission
Tell me more about the missions of the various groups that support the plan |
The Northwest Forest Plan
(NWFP) is an overall vision
for the Pacific Northwest that would produce timber products while
protecting and managing impacted species. The Plan focuses on five key
principles (as shown in the graphic to the right). The mission of the NWFP is to adopt coordinated management direction for the lands administered by the USDA Forest Service and the USDI Bureau of Land Management and to adopt complimentary approaches by other Federal agencies within the range of the northern spotted owl. The management of these public lands must meet dual needs: the need for forest habitat and the need for forest products. |
||
Goals
Tell me more about State, Tribal, and local government involvement |
In 1993, a comprehensive NWFP was initiated to
end the impasse over management of Federal forest lands in the Pacific
Northwest within the range of the Northern spotted owl. With the signing
of the Northwest Forest Plan
Record of Decision in 1994, a
framework and system of Standards and Guidelines were established,
using a new ecosystem approach to address resource management. To
support this framework, Federal agencies signed a Memorandum
of Understanding which established and maintains an interagency
framework to achieve two distinct goals:
Fulfillment of both of these goals is integral to the Administration's commitment to provide an ecosystem management approach that is scientifically sound, ecologically credible, and legally responsible. |
||
Impacted Lands
|
The NWFP covers 24.5 million acres in Oregon, Washington, and northern California that are managed by a variety of Federal agencies. The green area on the graphic to the left illustrates the general area affected by the plan. This land is Federally managed by: |
||
Ownership | Area (acres) | Percentage | |
19
National Forests 7 BLM Districts 6 National Parks National Wildlife Refuges & Department of Defense Lands |
19,400,000 2,700,000 2,200,000 165,000 |
79 11 9 <1% |
|
Land
Use
|
There are seven types of land allocations (as described in the NWFP Record of Decision and Standards and Guidelines): |
||
Land Allocation | Area (acres) | Percentage | |
Congressionally
Reserved Areas Late-Successional Reserves Managed Late-Successional Areas Adaptive Management Areas Administrative Withdrawn Areas Riparian Reserves Matrix |
7,320,600 7,430,800 102,200 1,521,800 1,477,100 2,627,500 3,975,300 |
30 30 <1 6 6 11 16 |
|
Federal
Partners
|
Federal partners include various land management, regulatory, research, and other relevant agencies located in Northern California, Western Oregon, and Western Washington. These agencies are part of the Regional Interagency Executive Committee (RIEC). RIEC agencies include:
There are also advisory committees which include representatives from States, Counties, and Tribes. At the regional level this includes the Intergovernmental Advisory Committee (IAC). Support for both the RIEC and IAC comes from the Regional Ecosystem Office (REO). |
||
Reviews & Exemptions | The NWFP requires a significant number of reviews to ensure that the activities performed in the field are consistent with the Standards and Guidelines and intent of the plan. Some types of activities are exempted from review. The Regional Ecosystem Office is working with agencies to define processes to streamline processes, reduce the administrative burden of implementing the plan, and provide more support for on-the-ground managers. | ||
Monitoring Tell me more about: Northern Spotted Owls
|
Eight Federal agencies have developed an implementation and effectiveness monitoring program encompassing Federal land managed by the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and National Park Service in western Washington, Oregon, and northwest California. This program focuses on important regional scale questions about older forests, listed species (Northern spotted owls, marbled murrelets), watershed health, Federal agency relationships with Tribes, and changing socio-economic conditions in communities closely tied to Federal lands. The Regional Monitoring program receives its own funding and is a separately managed interagency program (it is not a part of the Regional Ecosystem Office). |
Last updated Tuesday, November 28, 2006