{"id":16939,"date":"2022-03-08T18:49:52","date_gmt":"2022-03-08T18:49:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wildsalmoncenter.org\/?p=16939"},"modified":"2025-10-25T14:11:41","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T14:11:41","slug":"private-forest-accord-passes-as-part-of-historic-oregon-legislative-session","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildsalmoncenter.org\/2022\/03\/08\/private-forest-accord-passes-as-part-of-historic-oregon-legislative-session\/","title":{"rendered":"Private Forest Accord Passes As Part of Historic Oregon Legislative Session"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last week, the State Legislature passed the Private Forest Accord and two other landmark bills for forests, fish, and clean water.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Oregon Legislature\u2019s 2022 regular session delivered some of the most important wins for Oregon fish and forests in Wild Salmon Center history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the span of just 32 days, the legislature passed the monumental Private Forest Accord, which will bring durable protections for salmon and cold, clean water across 10 million acres of private Oregon forestland. The legislature also established the Elliott State Research Forest, which will transform this coastal rainforest into a sanctuary for science. And the legislature allocated a first-ever river resilience funding package to protect streamflows in the face of drought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The month-long session marked the culmination of decades of hard work from the WSC team and our partners, with the support of our wider community of advocates and donors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bob Van Dyk (center) with conservation team during Private Forest Accord final negotiations. (PC: Bob Sallinger)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOregon is now responding with needed urgency to protect salmon and steelhead and the clean, cold water they require,\u201d says WSC President & CEO Guido Rahr. \u201cThe science is unequivocal: Salmon cannot survive the climate change impacts we\u2019re now seeing in Oregon without the streamside protections secured by the Private Forest Accord. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve been fighting for these changes so hard and for so long. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd as part of strengthening salmon resilience in Oregon, we need to continue to protect key habitats like the Elliott, while delivering reliable water flows in salmon rivers across the state.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Salmon cannot survive the climate change impacts we\u2019re now seeing in Oregon without the streamside protections secured by the Private Forest Accord. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve been fighting for these changes so hard and for so long.<\/p>Guido Rahr, WSC President & CEO<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Coho habitat restoration work on private timberland, West Fork Evans Creek. (PC: Brian Kelley)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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A Bipartisan Win for the Private Forest Accord<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With a 43-15 vote in the Oregon House, the historic Private Forest Accord passed the Legislature, making Oregon\u2019s forest laws some of the strongest in the nation.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bipartisan passage of Oregon\u2019s Private Forest Accord marks the crowning moment of our decades-long campaign to modernize Oregon\u2019s outdated private forest practices\u2014long the weakest on the West Coast.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result of two years of work between 13 timber industry representatives and 13 conservation and fishing groups including Wild Salmon Center, the Accord updates logging practices to better protect salmon across 60,000 miles of Oregon rivers and streams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In Oregon, loggers can cut right up to the streams edge on no-fish streams, impacting water quality downstream. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t get everything we wanted at the negotiating table,\u201d says WSC Oregon Policy Director Bob Van Dyk, who played a pivotal role in brokering the agreement<\/a> and led negotiations on the conservation side<\/a>. \u201cBut this agreement is without a doubt an enormous and positive step for Oregon conservation.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among many other changes, the bill<\/a> expands minimum streamside forest buffers while also improving logging practices on steep slopes and management of logging roads\u2014both key factors in water quality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With increases in winter flooding and lower instream flows and hotter water temperatures in summer, increased stream protections up into the headwaters are critical to keeping rivers and streams clean enough and cold enough for salmon and steelhead in the face of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The bill also includes almost $20 million to fund new conservation, science, and landowner-support programs at key state agencies, as well as a 50-year commitment to provide more than $12 million per year in habitat restoration funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur fisheries, our forests, and our communities will all benefit,\u201d Van Dyk says. \u201cAnd not only from the measures adopted today, but also from the spirit of compromise that made this possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our fisheries, our forests, and our communities will all benefit, not only from the measures adopted today, but also from the spirit of compromise that made this possible.<\/p>Bob Van Dyk, WSC Oregon Policy Director<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE PRIVATE FOREST ACCORD<\/em><\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n