This blog post presents a recent letter to the editor published in The Oregonian/OregonLive that raises alarm over the U.S. Forest Service's proposed management plan for the Blue Mountains, and what real protection of this critical wildlife corridor should look like instead.
As a long-term Oregonian who cherishes our national forests as integral to our state’s identity, I have significant concerns about the U.S. Forest Service’s proposed plan for managing the Blue Mountains. Covering the Malheur, Wallowa-Whitman and Umatilla National Forests, this plan will shape one of the most important wildlife migration corridors in the contiguous United States for the next 15 years or more.
The proposed Blue Mountains management plan should alarm every Oregonian who values our public lands for recreation, hunting and fishing. It proposes eliminating protections for roadless areas ahead of the anticipated rollback of the national Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Rather than safeguarding these invaluable places, it would strip protections from over 700,000 acres outright — an area roughly the size of Marion County. These wildlands support species ranging from gray wolves to woodpeckers, along with the salmon and trout runs that define this region’s identity.
The plan would also triple logging levels, scrap the road-density limits that keep elk and other wildlife secure, open old-growth forests to logging and substantially weaken protections for the cold, clean streams that salmon and trout depend on.
The Blue Mountains belong to all of us, and the Forest Service should prioritize healthy wildlife, safeguard habitat and restore fire-resilient forests. It should not trade away – for short term gains – the wild places, native species and the recreation opportunities we all depend on.
Oregonians have until Sept. 30 to comment and demand a better vision for the future of the Blue Mountains.
Joseph Vaile, Ashland
Vaile is senior representative of the Northwest Program of Defenders of Wildlife
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