Oregon Public Broadcasting

U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar  announced a new plan Wednesday for managing federal forests in Western Oregon. That follows the Obama Administration's rejection of the Bush Administration blueprint.

Secretary Salazar says the new plan will provide economic certainty for Oregon's timber industry and protect endangered species, while federal officials work up a longer term plan.

He announced 62 timber sales on Bureau of Land Management acreage.

Dan Kruse with Cascadia Wildlands in Eugene says he's pleased most of the proposed sales are thinning projects in younger forests.

Dan Kruse: “The problem with it is that they're continuing to propose these controversial projects like Fall Creek, like some of the others in the Eugene district and the Medford district where they're proposing clear-cutting, where they're proposing logging in older stands and it's not the kind of change we're hoping for.”

The Fall Creek area is outside Eugene. 

Oregon Senator Ron Wyden and Representative Peter DeFazio called the plan a good first step. 

The industry group, American Forest Resource Council, says Salazar's interim plan falls far short of the timber production that Oregon forests could sustain.