Like bankruptcy, the death of the Northwest Forest Plan has proceeded slowly and might end quickly.

A new scientific review of many scientific papers suggests it is not necessary to thin before reintroducing fire into fire-dependent forests. Part 2 examines the new science and its implications for policy.

The Forest Service’s announcement that it is going to amend all national forest land management plans to “conserve and steward” old-growth forests is a start, although it’s a third of a century late and the proposed amendment is as light on conservation as it is loose on stewardship. As now proposed, the amendment leaves out mature forests, and the agency would leave loopholes large enough for log trucks loaded with old-growth logs to drive through.

This is the first of two Public Lands Blog posts on the president’s executive order (EO) on forests, which, among other things, unambiguously directs the federal forest agencies to conserve the remaining mature and old-growth forests. Part 1 dissects the order. Part 2 will place it in the current political context and make recommendations to various key interests on how best to ensure that the potential of the EO is fulfilled.

This is the third of three Public Lands Blog posts that consider the desire of the Forest Service to amend a provision of the “Eastside Screens,” standards designed to protect public forests east of the Cascade Range. Part 1 examined the history, science, and politics leading up to the adoption of the Eastside Screens and their implementation since then. Part 2 explored issues both of management and of the science behind the management. Part 3 suggests what the Forest Service could do to improve the Eastside Screens, in both the short and long term.

This is the second of what were to be two but now are three Public Lands Blog posts that consider the desire of the Forest Service to amend a provision of the “Eastside Screens,” standards designed to protect public forests east of the Cascade Range. Part 1 examined the history, science, and politics leading up to the adoption of the Eastside Screens and their implementation since then. Part 2 explores issues both of management and of the science behind the management. Part 3 will suggest what the Forest Service could do to improve the Eastside Screens, in both the short and long term.

Big Timber in Oregon is so 20th Century. It used to be that timber jobs were above the state’s median wage; now they are below it. Today, only 1.3 percent of Oregon’s jobs arise from falling trees. That number will continue to decline in relative terms as Oregon’s economy continues to grow, and it will continue to decline in absolute terms as the timber industry continues to automate.