Obama rejects WOPR
President Obama canceled the Western Oregon Plan Revision yesterday, a northwest logging plan rezoning 2.6 million acres of federal public forests in Oregon managed by the BLM formed during the Bush administration.
The WOPR has been a constant source of upheaval in local environmental, political and biologist groups, due to the BLM’s violation of the Endangered Species Act in the establishment of the plan. The BLM avoided consult from federal biologists on the effects the logging could potentially have on endangered species in the area, such as the northern spotted owl and local salmon.
The decision to cancel the WOPR was backed by numerous studies concluding not only that native animals were at risk by the logging, but that continued destruction of the forests would contaminate surrounding waterways and increase carbon outputs, leading to global warming.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced the administrations change in plans.
“Today we are taking action to reform the Department of Interior and correct mistakes by correcting legal shortcuts the late administration made at the end of its tenure,”
he said Thursday.
While this reversal is a success for the Northwest’s environment and ecosystem, Tom Partin, president of the American Forest Resource Council, added that the cancellation will have an inevitably negative effect on the economy in timber-dependent communities. At 12.1 percent, Oregon’s unemployment rate is among the highest nationwide.
Nonetheless, canceling the WOPR is a big step in the Obama administration, highly respected by environmental advocates nationwide.
“Instead of a sea of stumps, we will now have healthy forests, healthy streams and salmon, and a rebounding economy,”
said Kristen Boyles, an attorney with Earthjustice. “We’re grateful that our citizens’ legal challenge could stop this plan until the Obama administration was in place to listen to the people and follow America’s environmental laws.”
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