Planning
Forest planning documents guide all forest management actions. Plans are focused at a broad scale: regional, forest-wide, or landscape (watershed) level.
Forest Plan
These files are the Willamette National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan and the Final Environmental Impact Statement. This is a digital copy of the original documents printed in 1990.
There have been several amendments to the Forest Plan since 1990 that are not reflected in these documents. For further information on Plan amendments, contact the Forest Planner for the Willamette National Forest.
Final Environmental Impact Statement
Coming soon
Land and Resource Management Plan
Record of Decision
Forest Plan Monitoring
The 2012 Planning Rule (36 CFR 219) required the Willamette National Forest to establish a land management plan monitoring program that is consistent with the new Planning Rule’s monitoring requirements. The monitoring strategy includes a new set of questions intended to replace the old and dated questions found Chapter V in the Forest Plan. Questions are developed and addressed at a scale appropriate to the question. This may be plan level or broad scale. The plan monitoring program is a required element of the plan. It is designed to test whether assumptions made during planning were accurate and to track progress towards meeting the desired conditions set out in the plan. Information from monitoring efforts informs the Forest Service and the public as to whether a change to the plan is necessary.
These documents report Forest activities and accomplishments comparing them to the Forest Plan direction, and projected outputs and effects. Monitoring and evaluation are important elements in the implementation of the Forest Plan.
Latest Report
Archived Reports
Assessments
The Northwest Forest Plan (NFP - USDA/USDI 1994) was developed to maintain and restore the ecology of federal lands within the range of the northern spotted owl, focusing on older forests (Late Successional Reserves) and watershed health (Aquatic Conservation Strategy - ACS). To accomplish this goal, forests are required to prepare Watershed Analysis documents.
A watershed analysis is intended to:
- Provide site-specific information to meet ACS objectives in future project planning
- Provide the basis for restoration and monitoring programs for terrestrial and aquatic species,
- Provide the foundation from which Riparian Reserves (streamside zones) can be delineated.
Watershed analyses generally follow the outline described in the updated Federal Guide for Watershed Analysis - Ecosystem Analysis at the Watershed Scale (Federal Guide - Version 2.2, August 1995). Recommendations for maintaining and restoring natural processes on National Forest lands can be included to help guide future project planning. Opportunities for restoration on private land can also be discussed; private landowners and other organizations can use this information to support projects outside Forest Service jurisdiction.
A watershed analysis is not a decision-making document. Future project planning will use these documents as a starting point, however new information, environmental or policy changes, and/or site-specific conditions could lead to new findings and recommendations. The documents should be considered iterative; new information will be incorporated as it becomes available.
| Ranger District | Watershed analysis | Completed | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Detroit | Blowout (part of N. Santiam Middle) | 1994 | 2000 |
| Detroit | Breitenbush | 1996 | 2014 |
| Detroit | Upper North Santiam | 1995 | 2007 |
| Detroit | Little North Santiam | 1998 | |
| Detroit | Detroit Tributaries | 1997 | |
| Sweet Home | South Santiam | 1995 | 2005 |
| Sweet Home | Middle Santiam | 1996 | |
| Sweet Home | Quartzville | 2002 | |
| Sweet Home | Calapooia River (Upper Calapooia River) | 1999 | |
| McKenzie River | South Fork McKenzie River | 1994 | 2010 |
| McKenzie River | Upper McKenzie River (also on Sweet Home & Detroit) | 1995 | 2011Sweet Home, 2006 |
| McKenzie River | Blue River | 1996 | |
| McKenzie River | Horse Creek | 1997 | |
| McKenzie River | Quartz Creek and Minor Tributaries (Quartz Creek - McKenzie River) | 1998 | |
| Middle Fork | North Fork of Middle Fork Willamette | 1995 | |
| Middle Fork | Upper Middle Fork Willamette | 1996 | 2002, 2008 |
| Middle Fork | Salmon Creek | 1996 | |
| Middle Fork | Winberry and Lower Fall Creek | 1996 | |
| Middle Fork | Little Fall Creek / Hills Creek | 1997 | |
| Middle Fork | Fall Creek | 1995 | |
| Middle Fork | Hills Creek | 1998 | |
| Middle Fork | Middle Fork Willamette, Downstream Tribs aka Hills Creek Reservoir | 1995 | |
| Middle Fork | Lookout Point | 1997 | 2012 |
| Middle Fork | Salt Creek | 1997 |
1Straight Creek/Upper North Santiam received a GIS vegetation update in 2009. No document available to post.
2Pioneer Gulch located in the Upper Middle Fork received a vegetation update in 2008.
In 1994 the Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP) designated a network of Late-Successional Reserves (LSR) with the object of protecting and enhancing conditions of late-successional and old-growth forest ecosystems. As part of its strategy for protecting these ecosystems, the NWFP directs us to prepare an assessment of conditions and the functions of each LSR. The Mid Willamette Late-Successional Reserve Assessment was prepared by an interdisciplinary team comprised of Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service specialists.
Its purpose is to describe the ecological framework within which projects will be designed to ensure they will meet LSR standards and guidelines and further LSR objectives. Decisions on where, when and how projects will be implemented are made through project level environmental analysis, not in the assessment.
The area covered by this assessment includes lands managed by the Willamette National Forest and the Salem and Eugene Districts of the Bureau of Land Management. We assessed eleven designated LSRs occupying 328,656 acres of federal lands.
The following documents are in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.
Travel Management
The Forest Service’s Travel Management rule requires all National Forests to identify a road system that is financially and environmentally sustainable over the long term.
Our approach:
- We have developed a Roads Investment Strategy for how to best use our limited road maintenance budget to maintain access needs, while also protecting and restoring landscapes.
- Analysis began in 2011 and was completed in September 2015.
- This report:
- Includes a description of the existing road system and management issues related to that system,
- Outlines the public and community involvement,
- Explains the analysis process used to identify risks, opportunities and access values,
- Summarizes the results of the analysis and public involvement, and
- Finishes with the next steps and how the strategy will be used in the future.
- The Road Investment Strategy is not a decision document and will not directly lead to changes to roads. It will be used to inform and guide both short-term and long-term decisions about road management on the Willamette National Forest.
Northwest Forest Plan & Amendment
The Northwest Forest Plan covers 24.5 million acres of federally managed lands in California, Oregon, and Washington. It was established in 1994 to address threats to threatened and endangered species while also contributing to social and economic sustainability in the region. Over 30 years later, the Northwest Forest Plan needs to be updated to accommodate changed ecological and social conditions.