U.S. Forest Service outlines proposed Northwest Forest Plan amendment, opens 120-day comment window

The U.S. Forest Service on Friday published a draft environmental impact statement to amend the Northwest Forest Plan and opened a 120‑day public comment period, agency planners told local officials and county staff at a multi‑county webinar.

The DEIS, which the agency released Nov. 15, proposes changes that Forest Service leaders said are intended to speed up fuels‑reduction work in areas near communities, clarify different approaches for ‘dry’ versus ‘moist’ forest types, support tribal stewardship and cultural burning where tribes request it, and create measurable 10‑year objectives for timber and restoration work to support local jobs and industry.

Agency officials said the proposal responds to new science and to the rising risk of large, severe wildfire since the plan was written in 1994. “Many of the values the Northwest Forest Plan was created to protect are now at considerable risk,” said Priya Shehani, the DEIS lead for the Forest Service planning team. The DEIS examines a no‑action alternative and three action alternatives that vary how strongly the plan would prioritize restoration by natural processes, hazardous fuels reduction for communities, and timber‑oriented treatments.

Regional foresters Jackie Buchanan (Pacific Northwest) and Jennifer Aberline (Pacific Southwest) told audience members the amendment does not redraw the plan’s land‑use allocation boundaries; instead it would change management direction within existing allocations. The amendment would, for example, raise the age threshold in late successional reserves for where active restoration treatments may be applied and would require retention of very old trees (trees older than about 150 years) in dry forest settings while focusing active restoration in younger stands that lack old‑growth attributes.

On fire planning, the DEIS proposes a “community protection areas” concept: priority zones for hazardous‑fuels reduction that would be identified collaboratively by local partners rather than by a single top‑down map. In those zones the DEIS would give priority to treatments and prescribed fire intended to reduce risk to life and infrastructure. Shasta Ferranto, a Forest Service planner, said fuels‑reduction work typically requires a multi‑step approach—harvest or mechanical thinning where appropriate, followed by pile burning and then prescribed fire—and that the DEIS is meant to improve the ability to do that work more quickly while remaining consistent with other conservation goals.

The proposed amendment also includes new language to expand tribal co‑stewardship opportunities and to support cultural burning where tribes ask for it. Planners said the DEIS contains explicit direction to honor treaty and other protected rights, to protect tribal cultural sites, and to work under mutually agreed privacy protocols when necessary.

The DEIS sets a public comment deadline (published in the DEIS notice of availability). Officials told webinar participants the deadline for comments is March 17, 2025, and urged stakeholders and county governments to submit specific, factual comments that cite DEIS page numbers or sections where possible. “We don’t have a preferred alternative in the draft; we want feedback,” Priya Shehani said. The Forest Service has scheduled a series of public and tribal meetings to collect input and posted webinar recordings and documents on the project website.

The Forest Service said it will use the comments, tribal consultation and interagency coordination—including formal consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service—to refine the preferred alternative and environmental analysis before issuing a final EIS and a record of decision. The DEIS and meeting schedule are available on the Forest Service project website; comments must be submitted or postmarked by the deadline listed in that notice.

For counties and local governments that participated, Forest Service staff said the amendment is intended to provide clearer, implementable direction for practitioners on the ground and to foster locally driven collaborations that can support larger, cross‑jurisdictional hazardous fuels and restoration efforts.

Planners encouraged county staff and community groups to review the DEIS, join a local meeting, and submit written comments within the 120‑day period.