Oregon Public Broadcasting

The long-awaited final plan for federal forests in southwest Oregon is finally out. The Western Oregon Plan Revision, or “the WOPR” affects millions of acres of forests in the triangle between Eugene, Coos Bay, and Klamath Falls.

As Rob Manning reports, the plan could mean more logging, or, just more lawsuits. The WOPR rose - and may fall - because of court action.

Years ago, the Bush Administration responded to a timber industry lawsuit by attempting to  increase yearly logging to what was promised by the Clinton-era Northwest Forest Plan. But the WOPR goes beyond that 200 million board feet, to 500 million board feet.

Ed Shepard is with the Bureau of Land Management. He says the plan strikes the right balance.

Ed Shepard: “We feel that in these plans, we’ve responsibly addressed receipts to the counties and sustainable jobs in the communities, protections for threatened species, and clean water for community and aquatic species.”

The BLM says the plan would bring $75 million a year to Oregon counties. But the timber industry group, American Forest Resources Council says it’s disappointed that the plan won’t log more.

Over the last year, the BLM has worked to make the WOPR line up with other federal plans to protect the northern spotted owl and marbled murrelet. But environmental groups say the effort failed.

Jonathon Jelen: “This plan is absolutely reckless.”

Jonathon Jelen is with the environmental group, Oregon Wild.

Jonathon Jelen: “This has been kind of deemed, since last year, sort of a ‘dead plan walking’ because so many people, including the BLM’s own science team was coming out against earlier versions of this plan.”

The BLM contends the final plan is better for the environment than previous plans, with more protections for streams, for instance.

But Earthjustice attorney Kristen Boyles says the BLM broke the law by not consulting adequately with other agencies.

Kristen Boyles: “They’re claiming now that they legally don’t have, which is incorrect, and which is going to be the first thing out of the box in a legal challenge. They haven’t talked to their own federal family, agency experts.”

No lawsuit -- if filed would reach a courtroom before President Bush leaves office.

Whether a President Obama, or President McCain would vigorously defend the WOPR in court isn’t clear.