Help Shape The Future of Northwest Forests

Image: William Woodward, North Cascades

Adapted from The Mountaineers’ blog here.

Logging protests. Activists sleeping in the world’s tallest trees. An iconic species on the brink. This isn’t a summary of a Hollywood action flick, it’s the real world clash between loggers and environmentalists that led scientists to develop the Northwest Forest Plan.

When the Plan was adopted in 1994, it fundamentally changed the way our public lands are managed in the Pacific Northwest and helped preserve our iconic old-growth forests. But since then, threats to our forests have changed dramatically. From droughts and wildfires to pests and pathogens, climate change is wreaking havoc on our national forests at an alarming, and unprecedented, rate.

The Northwest Forest Plan is due for an update–and it’s getting one. The Forest Service recently released a proposed amendment to the plan that would address modern challenges such as fire and climate resilience. The Forest Service is asking the public to submit feedback to improve their draft amendment by March 17, 2025. Our community has a once-in-decades opportunity to shape the future of Washington’s most iconic, beautiful, and vulnerable recreation destinations. We hope you’ll join us in shaping that future.  

WHAT IS THE NORTHWEST FOREST PLAN?

For most of modern U.S. history, trees were mainly seen as a resource to harvest. In the 1980s, environmentalists began to rail against what they thought of as destructive logging practices. The resulting policy, the Northwest Forest Plan, fundamentally changed the U.S. approach to resource management on our public lands, limiting logging to certain areas to protect wildlife, old-growth forests, and streams. 

The Plan is monumental in scale, encompassing 17 national forests and 24 million acres in Washington, Oregon, and Northern California, including over 10,000 miles of hiking trails and more than 500 climbing sites. Whether you’ve hiked along rivers in the Olympic Peninsula or cross-country skied in the Methow Valley, chances are high that you’ve recreated on lands governed by the Northwest Forest Plan. Chances are even higher if you’ve participated in a Mountaineers course or trip - around 60% of our courses enter national forest land. 

AMENDING THE PLAN FOR A RESILIENT FUTURE

While some elements of the plan have withstood the test of time, the Plan doesn’t address many of the current issues that plague our forests, including the threat of longer and more intense wildfire seasons. On top of that, the original plan lacked input from tribes. Excluding Tribal voices when creating the original Northwest Forest Plan was inequitable, and prevented the plan from incorporating Indigenous knowledge that would have helped make our forests more resilient to climate change. 

The Forest Service is proposing to amend the Northwest Forest Plan to address emerging climate change threats. The update aims to incorporate Tribal knowledge, respond to growing wildfire risk, and better protect forest ecosystems in the face of climate change. The amendment would impact 19 million acres of national forest lands, including the Olympic, Gifford-Pinchot, Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie, and Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forests. 

Considering how important these areas are to Outdoor Alliance member group, The Mountaineers. The Mountaineers Conservation & Advocacy Director, Betsy Robblee, represents the outdoor recreation community’s interests on the Northwest Forest Plan Federal Advisory Committee – a diverse group of tribal leaders, local community members, environmental groups, industry leaders, and scientists that provided recommendations to the Forest Service for amending the plan. We also worked with Outdoor Alliance and other partners to send the agency detailed comments when they announced their intent to amend the plan last year, and asked our community to speak up for climate-resilient forests. 

WHAT’S IN THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT? 

Last November, the Forest Service released a draft environmental impact statement for their proposed amendment to the Northwest Forest Plan. The agency is considering four possible approaches to amending the 1994 plan, each with a different level of action to address climate and wildfire resilience. Land managers will move forward based on feedback from the public on the following courses of action: 

• Alternative A: No action - this would leave the original plan unchanged. Given the growing threats to northwest forests and the lack of Tribal input in the original plan, we would prefer to take action to modernize the plan.

• Alternatives C and D: are at different ends of the management spectrum. Alternative C would take some steps toward reducing wildfire risk, but still falls short in adapting to the larger challenges of climate change. On the other hand, Alternative D would give the agency significantly more flexibility to prevent wildfire spread, which could undermine conservation goals.

• Alternative B: This is the most balanced option. While not perfect, it strikes the right compromise, improving wildfire resilience and conserving old-growth forests through sustainable harvesting and prescribed burns.

Generally speaking, we support Alternative B. This option includes new protections for previously unprotected old-growth forests and ensures that dry forests on the east side of the Cascades are more resilient to wildfire. Alternative B also lays out plans to more thoroughly consider Tribal input. While we believe Alternative B could be strengthened and improved in a number of ways, it will modernize management of national forests in the age of climate change. 

HOW THE AMENDMENT IMPACTS RECREATION 

Recreationists have a lot to gain through more climate-and-fire-resilient management of our forests. Fewer wildfire closures and disruptions to access mean more opportunities for outdoor activities like hiking, mountaineering, and climbing. More intact, old-growth forests are good for both our environment and outdoor recreation. 

The good news is that the proposed amendment includes provisions to support climate- and wildfire-resilient recreation, including encouraging the agency to restore outdoor recreation infrastructure after wildfires. However, the amendment could do more to incorporate recreation into its overall strategy. National forests are essential to the outdoor community, both for recreation and the local economy. The final version of the amendment should clearly lay out how the agency will minimize the impact of climate change on outdoor recreation. 

GET READY TO COMMENT 

The public comment period for the Forest Service’s proposed amendment to the Northwest Forest Plan is open until March 17, 2025. We’re collaborating with our partners on a detailed comment letter, but the agency is also looking for direct input from recreationists. Agency staff want to know why these forests matter to you and how the Plan can best support recreational use in the face of climate change. 

What we need now is your voice, sharing your personal connection to these lands and why their protection matters for you as a recreationist. We recognize that submitting your own comments can be a daunting process, so we’ve put together a list of key points to include in your letter:

Support for Alternative B: This option strikes a good balance between preserving old-growth forests and improving fire resilience. We support new protections for previously unprotected old-growth forests and changes to improve the management of dry, eastside forests.

Support for Tribal Inclusion: Integrating Tribal knowledge into the planning process is essential, regardless of what course of action the Forest Service chooses. 

Support for Recreation: We support language in the proposed amendment to minimize the impact of climate change on recreation, but recreation needs to be more thoroughly incorporated into the final plan. This presents a great opportunity to share your own experiences to highlight why these forests matter to you and how recreation and climate-smart management can go hand in hand. 

The Forest Service hopes to release their final proposed Northwest Forest Plan amendment to the public by October 2025. This timeline could shift due to actions taken by the administration, including the recent decision to fire around 10% of the Forest Service’s workforce. We’ll keep our community updated as the amendment process moves forward.