Oregon Public Broadcasting

A federal task force created last year to improve management of southern Oregon forests is releasing its final recommendations Thursday. Rob Manning has a preview.

When the Obama Administration dumped the Western Oregon Plan Revision a year ago, it called on a task force to offer a better way of dealing with the big problem: how to produce more timber on Bureau of Land Management forests, without violating environmental laws.

In its new report, the task force says the current focus "cannot continue indefinitely." 

The focus now is on non-controversial thinning  projects – rather than more substantial logging.

The recommendations don't provide a clear alternative, though.

The task force supports the current strategy of  avoiding court fights, especially when it comes to logging projects near streams and in places where the BLM would have to manage for rare wildlife.

Longer term, the task force calls for more task forces: everything from a cabinet-level steering committee, to a team of federal legal experts, to separate committees of scientists and agency officials for conflicts that are closer to the ground.