science environment

BLM Pursuing Settlement Over 2.5 Million Acres Of Oregon Forest

By Rob Manning (OPB)
July 22, 2011 12:10 a.m.

The Bureau of Land Management is pursuing a settlement over 2.5 million acres of Oregon forest.

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The BLM is trying to steer clear of the lawsuits triggered by previous logging plans.

The BLM's plans from 2008 are on court dockets on both the East and West coasts. So, judges or Congress are likely to guide what happens, short-term on the BLM lands in southwestern Oregon. But the agency’s district planning chief, Kim Titus, is rolling out a new long-term planning effort this month. She says the first step is to talk to academics and recreation advocates, as well as to groups that are suing the BLM -- like the timber industry and environmentalists.

"Just to see what the issues might be that they would be willing to come to the table around, and would they be able or willing to proceed with this collaborative conversation, with the hopes of reaching some level of consensus," Titus.

Titus says a broader public outreach would follow what she calls an "exploratory dialogue." She says that could shape actual projects starting in the year 2017 – unless Congress streamlines the federal process.

(This first appeared on opbnews.org.)

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