The President's Forest Plan
Breaking Gridlock and Moving Forward

For far too long, the Pacific Northwest and northern California were deadlocked in an emotional, polarizing debate over how to manage the region's federal forest lands. It was a dilemma that previous administrations failed to address, a problem that President Clinton inherited, and one that he made a priority to solve.

The President pledged to correct the mistakes of the past, put an end to the gridlock, and move the region forward. The President and his administration succeeded by creating a science-based, legal, and balanced forest management plan that provides for both economic opportunity and protection of the environment.

• Support the region's people and communities during a period of economic transition
• Provide a sustainable timber economy
• Protect and enhance the environment
• Ensure federal agencies work together as one government
• Adhere to our nation's laws

• In June, 1994, just two months after the plan's Record of Decision was adopted, federal courts dropped injunctions banning timber harvest from federal lands. For the first time in three years, timber sales in the region of the northern spotted owl could be offered and harvested.

• In December, 1994, six different lawsuits from representatives of the timber industry and environmental groups challenged the plan on 96 counts. The plan won on each and every count.

• Since that positive decision, to date there have been three other decisions on the legality of the plan, and the plan won all three. This has allowed 30 timber sales, and the region, to move forward...putting an end to gridlock.

• The plan's solid legal and scientific foundation is breaking gridlock by preventing lawsuits in the first place. For instance, many groups who originally challenged the plan chose not to appeal, and others withdrew their challenges to timber sales after examining the ecosystem protections built into the plan.

In 1991, the federal timber supply pipeline was shut down to a mere trickle. A federal court injunction put the timber sale program west of the Cascade mountains in a straight jacket, because the federal government did not have a forest plan that was both balanced and protected the region's forests, salmon, and water quality. A flurry of lawsuits followed, gridlock engulfed the region, previous administrations failed to address this dilemma, and during all of this activity of inaction, the timber supply pipeline was running dry.

The President stepped up to the challenge to get a sustainable timber supply pipeline flowing again. In 1994, the injunctions were lifted just two months after the President's Forest Plan's record of decision was announced.

For the first time in three years, the legal logjam was broken, and federal timber sales in the region of the northern spotted owl are moving forward.

• Timber sales and harvests are back on track, with the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management working hard to move timber. Since the injunctions were lifted:

  More than 300 million board feet have been offered for sale from federal forest lands in Washington, Oregon and northern California. Of that amount, 136 million board feet comes from the west side of the Cascades.

  More than 900 million board feet of timber is under contract and awaiting harvest at the purchaser's discretion.

  To date, nearly 870 million board feet have been harvested, enough to build 72,000 average homes and employ about 6,000 people.

• The President is making good on the government's commitment to honor millions of board feet of timber sales that have been held in limbo for years.

  Millions of board feet of timber sales came to a dead stop, tied up in the legal morass of lawsuits and gridlock that existed prior to the Clinton administration.

  255 million board feet of these deadlocked timber sales are now cleared and ready, thanks to the re-inventing of government in the region, with the federal agencies now working together as one government, coordinating their efforts, streamlining reviews and processes.

  Also, in the next three months the path will be cleared to release an additional 88 million board feet.

• Assuming that the federal agencies implementing the forest plan are given sufficient resources to get the job done, and the fire season does not pull Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management people away from timber sale planning, an estimated 800 million to 1 billion board feet of timber will be offered for sale in Washington, Oregon, and northern California by the end of this summer.

While unemployment for the entire region is at its lowest level in two decades, there are still areas where changes in forest management practices have impacted many people and the communities they call home. The President recognized that these impacts would occur, and that's why the Economic Adjustment Initiative is aimed at providing both immediate and long-term relief for these people, businesses and communities.

The Initiative provides the funds needed for developing much-needed infrastructure in impacted communities, providing technical and financial assistance to rural businesses, creating new jobs through restoring the region's forested watersheds, and job training and retraining opportunities for dislocated workers.

So far, in just this year, the Initiative has distributed more than $92 million in grants and loans; millions more will reach the region before the year ends. That builds on last year's success, which saw more than $126 million assist more than 100 communities.

• While the list of projects and communities funded so far this year is extensive, the economic assistance projects can be placed into four main targeted areas:

  Assistance to Workers and Families
  Example: $8.2 million awarded to Washington to retrain more than 1,700 dislocated timber workers.

  Assistance to Business and Industry
  Example: $7 million awarded in grants and loans to stimulate business growth and economic development in rural communities in Washington, Oregon and California.

  Assistance to Communities
  Example: Nearly $65 million awarded in grants and loans to help rural communities in Oregon, Washington, and California plan and build water systems, waste treatment facilities and other community infrastructure improvements.

  Ecosystem Investment
  Example: $37 million will be distributed this season to fund hundreds of watershed and ecosystem restoration projects in Oregon, Washington and California, restoring the environment and providing jobs.

  • People welcomed the opportunity to determine their own economic futures, but to do it right, government red tape had to be cut and the financial and technical assistance had to be delivered where and when it was needed. To accomplish this, ideas from people and communities are gathered and considered by one-stop centers for all types of financial assistance called the Community Economic Revitalization Team (CERT).

    Each state has one CERT whose membership is individually tailored to deal with the needs of workers, families, businesses and communities in their state. To eliminate red tape, the CERTs are working to streamline government and overcome bureaucratic barriers. So far this year, 22 barriers had been identified with 15 of them already removed. Last year, 25 barriers were removed.

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  Ecosystems: a new era in natural resources management

  Recognizing forests as a complex network of biological systems that are connected and dependent on each other, a team of hundreds of scientists and technical experts designed the forest plan on ecosystem management.

  • To plan for the future of the forest plan's ecosystems, Washington, Oregon and California are broken into 12 provinces that share common water and land characteristics, with watersheds serving as the basis for the planning areas to help assure clean water for people and healthy habitat for wildlife and fish such as salmon.

  • An aquatic conservation strategy was developed to restore and maintain the health of watersheds, providing direction for analysis, restoration and monitoring. More than 500 watershed restoration projects are completed or initiated. About 5 million acres of watersheds have been analyzed so far, with another 5 million acres projected to be analyzed by the end of this year.

  • Six different types of federal land allocations are created to preserve old growth forests, protect the environment, and allow for timber harvest of trees less than 80 years old, or for salvaging activities that help promote characteristics of ancient forests.

    Riparian reserves: 2.2 million acres along streams and wetlands to protect and enhance clean water and to create habitat.

    Adaptive management areas: 1.5 million acres consisting of ten areas intended for innovative forest management. Located near forest-dependent communities, these ten areas are living laboratories where experimenting with innovative, environmentally sensitive forest management techniques are being encouraged and developed.

    Matrix lands: Includes 4.9 million acres outside of reserves and withdrawn areas which are available for timber harvest.

    Congressionally withdrawn areas: 7 million acres of National Parks, wilderness areas,national monuments and other federal lands where timber harvest is prohibited.

    Late-successional reserves: 7.1 million acres of federal lands where old-growth or late successional cutting is prohibited.

    Administratively withdrawn areas: 1.7 million acres of federal land to be used for various uses such as experimental forestry, research, recreation, and scenic areas.

  • Private landowners will be voluntarily conserving millions of acres for habitat preservation, thanks to the success of the administration's new habitat conservation plans and conservation agreements. These cooperative efforts give landowners the opportunity to voluntarily comply with the endangered species act by setting aside important habitat areas, and in return they can move forward with their economic goals. 39 plans and agreements are currently underway or completed, potentially preserving about 5.5 million acres of habitat in Oregon, Washington, and California.

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  Making federal agencies work together as one government

  In an unprecedented effort, instead of creating more bureaucracy, the president directed the federal agencies involved with the forest plan to work together in creative new interagency groups. Agencies are saving money by jointly coordinating efforts, improving communication, sharing information, and eliminating duplication.

  Along with the interagency committees, advisory committees were established to help ensure federal decision makers would be able to receive valuable input from local, state, and tribal governments, the public, and communities of both place and interest.

  • The Interagency Steering Committee (ISC) is based in Washington DC, and it establishes overall policies for the forest plan. It is chaired by the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

  • The Regional Interagency Executive Committee (RIEC) serves as the senior regional body implementing the forest plan, coordinating and communicating policies with agencies in the forest plan area. Advising the RIEC is the Intergovernmental Advisory Committee (IAC), which ensures a forum for the state and tribes within the region.

  • The Regional Ecosystem Office (REO) provides independent recommendations and scientific, technical and other staff support to the RIEC to help implement the forest plan. Staff of the REO are on loan from federal agencies involved with the forest plan. Each of the 12 provinces has a Provincial Interagency Executive Committee (PIEC), made up of federal agency directors who oversee the implementation of the Forest Plan within their province. Advising the PIECs are the Provincial Advisory Committees (PAC), made up of community, business, environmental groups, Native American tribes, and federal, state, and county officials.

  • Assisting the Economic Adjustment Initiative are the Multi-Agency Command (MAC) and the Regional and State Community Economic Revitalization Teams (RCERT and SCERT). The MAC members are based in Washington DC, and the RCERT and state CERT members include representatives from California, Oregon, Washington, Native American tribal organizations, and the federal agencies responsible for awarding grants and loans.

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