Northwest Forest Plan Amendment: Categories of Focus

With the initial round of public comments and meetings amongst the FAC coming to a close, the focus of the upcoming NWFP amendment will be honing in on protections for old-growth forests, tribal inclusion, and fire resilience. It is clear that current policies that aim to suppress fire have failed to protect native old-growth forest ecosystems, as fire suppression has resulted in uncontrollable wildfires. Old-growth forest ecosystems are one of the planet’s biggest carbon sinks and offer a natural solution to the climate crisis. Logging is one of the region's largest sources of carbon emissions. The NWFP amendment needs to protect forests from commercial logging that removes the most carbon-rich, fire-resilient trees.

The original NWFP was inclusive of environmental ecological concerns, while also being heavily influenced by the interests of the timber industry. The key, and most important role missing in the creation of the NWFP was Indigenous knowledge. Indigenous peoples' roles as stewards and shapers of the land as it exists today was ignored. The ongoing cultural erasure and Indigenous exclusion is executed through the current U.S. Forest Service policies. It is imperative that the upcoming NWFP amendment remove the policy barriers preventing Indigenous peoples from practicing stewardship in the form of cultural burns.The inclusion and uplifting of Indigenous peoples through Tribal inclusion and fire resilience is necessary for the future of forest management. Indigenous fire stewardship was a vital agent in sustaining forest and grassland ecosystems, and enhancing native biodiversity, which have been degraded by USFS fire suppression and fire exclusion policies. The landscape in this region has evolved with fire. The original NWFP failed to fully engage Tribes or include Indigenous perspectives. The NWFP amendment must prioritize inclusion of Indigenous perspectives and respect for Tribes' sovereign rights to use fire.