Western Oregon Plan Revisions
Western Oregon Plan Revisions

The Bureau of Land Management is revising the six western Oregon Resource Management Plans tiered to the Northwest Forest Plan. The revised plans (to be completed in the fall of 2008) will address public lands and resources managed by the Salem, Eugene, Roseburg, Medford, and Coos Bay Districts and the Klamath Falls Resource Area of the Lakeview District. The planning area includes approximately 2,550,000 acres of public lands. About 2,100,000 of those acres are land revested from the Oregon and California Railroad and are managed under the O&C Lands Act of 1937.

Current Status of the Plan Revison Effort

Formal Public Review Completed

The planning process began on September 7, 2005 with formal issue scoping. A Draft Environmental Impact Statement was available for public review from August 10, 2007 through January 11, 2008. More about public involvement activities >>>

Thousands of comments were received during the formal public comment period. Many of these comments covered substantive issues with the draft environmental impact statement and will be used to improve the analysis and craft the proposed decisions and final environmental impact statement to be completed in 2008.

Science Team Review of the Draft EIS Received

A Science Team consisting of seven scientists and natural resource specialists from several federal and state agencies was formed in 2005 to provide scientific advice to the BLM to “enhance the quality and credibility of RMP revision analyses”. 

Science Team Review of the Draft EIS - Tasks identified in the Science Team charter included review of the Western Oregon Plan Revision Draft EIS to provide input to the BLM regarding the ability of Alternatives to meet the Purpose and Need of the Plan Revision as well as other evaluation criteria.  The Science Team review did not meet the stringent definitions of a formal "science consistency evaluation" or blind peer-review such as that applied to most published scientific research.  Rather, the Science Team Review is a compilation of comments by Science Team members in response to the following questions:

  1. Was all the relevant scientific information considered?
  2. Were all the significant assumptions acknowledged?
  3. Were risks adequately and fairly documented?
  4. Are the conclusions consistent with known science?

Preparing the Proposed Resource Management Plan and Final EIS

Once the substantive comments and issues are addressed, a Proposed Resource Management Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement will be published. This should occur in September followed by the preparation of six district-specific decision documents and revised Resource Management Plans by the end of the year. more>>>

Bureau of Land Management :: Western Oregon Plan Revisions Office
333 SW 1st. Avenue Portland, OR 97204 -or- P.O. Box 2965 Portland, OR 97208
(503) 808-6629 | Questions or Requests