No Flat Country for Old Growth

By Jake Lee Green

Deep within Oregon is the Willamette National Forest. 380,000 acres of nationally protected forest tracts within more than a million acres of territory. The forest area is home to some of the last standing old-growth in the world and shelters many species of flora and fauna. Species who depend on the forest’s ecology to sustain themselves.

Densely wooded old-growth habitats like the Willamette are no stranger to contentious logging practices. In the case of 74,000+ acres of old growth surrounding the small town of McKenzie Bridge, there has been a push and pull conflict over logging in the area.

Willamette National Forest made a Record of Decision in January of 2021, to thin selected areas under The Flat Country Project; much to the dismay of resident activists, forest defenders, conservation groups and academics. The forest administration is moving forward with the plan while opponents of the decision organize disruptions of ‘business as usual’ and pressure President Biden into shielding the trees from the ax.

Flat Country

The Flat Country Project was made public on Jan. 21, 2021, and is a USFS plan to log in the middle of an expansive old-growth forest network on the western slope of the Cascades near the small town of McKenzie Bridge. It is arguably the largest project the United States Forest Service has assembled in the last 20 years. Even with that said the USFS states that the project was a “multi-year, holistic analysis that received the highest level of environmental review” and “ensured consistency with the Northwest Forest Plan” which is an agreement made in 1992 to prevent encroachment on protected habitats of the spotted owl and prevent the degradation of old-growth forests.

Under the Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP) the land is divided into seven allocation uses. Congressionally reserved areas are national monuments, parks and wild and scenic rivers. Riparian Reserves, according to the USDA, “provide habitat for aquatic and riparian-dependent fish and wildlife species”.

Other portions are considered Late-Successional Reserves which are carefully observed old-growth eco-systems that are home to the spotted owl and the marbled murrelet. However, matrix land use allocations grant the USFS the ability to extract specific old growth and snags which are not hands-off in the consideration of a lumber sale.

Matrix land allocation is considered by the USFS in a desirable commercial sale; such as Flat Country. But, often the issue that activists have pointed out with the plan is that the thinning areas proposed are set in the middle of Riparian reserves and Late-Successional Reserves. The USDA even makes mention of this as an issue in a Supplemental Report on land use allocation through the NWFP.

The United States Department of Agriculture has maintained that its mission is to provide commercial thinning, reduce fuels, and maintain access to roads within the 74,092 acres. USFS documents reveal the agency has proposed timber harvest on 4,400 of those acres. Of which, include 962 acres that sit on Regeneration Harvests and 767 on Riparian Reserves. The forest service goes on to claim that the thinning processes will help to preserve carbon deposits in the remaining trees and soil.

Professor Emeritus Jerry F. Franklin at the University of Washington, Professor Emeritus K. Norman Johnson at Oregon State University and Deborah L. Johnson all agreed that the harvest units they surveyed earlier in the year did not necessitate the logging practices proposed in the Flat Country Project.

The three made observations of the naturally occurring density in mature douglas-fir groves which include snags and “legacy” structures. “Legacy” structures are long standing burned old-growth snags that have remained upright and offer a home to forest critters and varying plant species. Debris such as dead wood structures in the understory are also homes to wildlife. In the report the trio gave suggestions on forest management. Despite the observations and suggestions presented the USFS and Biden administration has made no mention of any effort to stop the logging trucks from rolling on Flat Country. However, activists and conservation groups don't appear to be backing down from another possible confrontation.

The Push Back

In September of 2021 the Cascadia Forest Defenders, a direct action eco-activism group, hoisted themselves 120 feet into tree-tops near McKenzie Bridge in an act of protest of the Record of Decision. Which, alongside non-profit group Cascadia Wildlands, put pressure on Oregon’s Congressmen and Senators. Now, nearly a year later activists are continuing their pressure upon the Willamette National Forest and the Biden administration to preserve the area which is home to trees as old as 150 years.

On April 22, 2022, President Biden signed ‘Executive Order 14072 on Strengthening the Nation’s Forests, Communities, and Local Economies’. In the order Biden states, “the world’s forests are quickly disappearing; only a small fraction of the world's mature old-growth forests remains” and that “we can and we must take action to conserve, restore, reforest, and manage our magnificent forests here at home”.

This gave a bit of leverage to activists and conservation groups who sought to use the language of the order to help cancel the timber harvest. With the issue of the order also came a 1-year deadline for the Secretary of the Interior to “define, identify, and complete an inventory of old-growth and mature forests on Federal lands” and “shall make such inventory publicly available”.

On August 16, the Cascadia Forest Defenders took credit for a 30 ft. wide banner drop over Highway 126 which reads in bold lettering “STOP FLAT COUNTRY TIMBER SALE”. This action rings true to their promise nearly a year ago to maintain a presence in the old-growth forest and continue to defend the McKenzie Watershed.