Northwest Forest Plan Amendment

FUSEE does public education and policy advocacy promoting safe, ecological, wildland fire management. Instead of reactively fighting against fire, we support proactively working with fire to protect rural communities, restore fire-adapted ecosystems, and preserve fire-dependent species.

"Late-successional reserves are to be managed to protect and enhance conditions of late-successional and old-growth forest ecosystems, which serve as habitat for late-successional and old-growth related species including the northern spotted owl" (Record of Decision for the NWFP, pg. C-11)

Across the US nearly 95% of original old-growth forests were logged. The largest remaining old-growth stands are in the PacNW. The NWFP created a system of Late-Successional Reserves (LSRs) to protect some–but not all–remaining old-growth groves. Existing clearcuts within LSRs were to be left alone for the next 200 years to become old-growth. 

Over the last three decades climate-driven wildfires have burned across LSRs, destroying young timber plantations and converting old-growth stands to early-successional forest. This is happening despite fire-exclusion and aggressive fire suppression policies. Fire-exclusion is unsustainable and cannot continue. A new strategy is needed: protect all old-growth stands inside and outside of LSRs from logging, and restore fire ecology processes with fire inclusion.

Tribal inclusion requires fire inclusion.

Timber plantations lack species diversity and are highly vulnerable to wildfire, insects and disease. They are not sustainable given climate change and increased wildfire frequency. Active ecological fire and fuels management is needed to restore resilience and biodiversity.

• The current NWFP was based on the old paradigm of fire exclusion and the NWFP amendment offers a great opportunity to shift the paradigm to fire inclusion.
• Cascadia's old-growth forests were born in fire and can be sustained with ecological fire management.
• M/OG trees are naturally fire resilient, unlike young nursery-grown tree saplings.
• The gravest threat to old-growth forests is logging, not wildfire.