State Forest Habitat Conservation Plan Meeting (or Webinar)

A Habitat Conservation Plan Public Kick-Off Meeting will be held Thursday, March 21 in Salem with options to attend in-person and via webinar. The presentation by the Oregon Department of Forestry will be from 1-3 p.m. with an informal meet-n-greet from 3-4 p.m. with the project team at Broadway Commons, 1300 Broadway St. NE, Salem, OR 97301. RSVP is requested; you can do so by clicking here. This will provide an opportunity for two-way dialogue between the public, stakeholders, department staff and consultants to share concerns and ideas for improvement. 

Oregon’s state forests provide habitat for a variety of species. This includes some listed as endangered or threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act, like the Northern spotted owl and marbled murrelet. Habitat Conservation Plans (HCPs) can serve as a more holistic and cost-effective way to comply with the Endangered Species Act. Currently the Oregon Department of Forestry is evaluating the potential advances and drawbacks that an HCP could provide on Board of Forestry (BOF) lands in western Oregon.​

The Oregon Department of Forestry is embarking on a multi-phased approach to fully evaluate what an HCP would mean for Oregon's state forests. The first phase included a business case analysis to evaluate potential cost and revenue impacts of pursuing an HCP as an alternative approach to ESA compliance. This cost-based analysis compared state forests under an HCP and a no-HCP scenario. The comparisons found that there was greater opportunity under a potential HCP to better protect high-value habitat while also expanding land available for harvest.