Opinion ID: 3049493
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Research Logging

Text: [10] ONRC also challenges the Project’s proposed research logging, which would occur on 282 acres of land affected by the fire within the Elk Creek LSR.16 The NFP establishes narrow guidelines identifying the circumstances in which research is permissible in LSRs, similar to the guidelines regarding salvage logging. Specifically, the Plan states: A variety of wildlife and other research activities may be ongoing and proposed in late-successional habitat. These activities must be assessed to determine if they are consistent with Late-Successional Reserve objectives. Some activities (including those with experimental forests) not otherwise consistent with the objectives may be appropriate, particularly if the activities will test critical assumptions of these standards and guidelines, will produce results important for habitat development, or if the activities represent continuation of long-term research. These activities should only be considered if there are no equivalent opportunities outside Late-Successional Reserves. NFP S&G C-18. Thus, the NFP creates a two-step inquiry for assessing whether research activities are permitted in an LSR. [11] First, the research activity is examined to determine whether it is “consistent with Late-Successional Reserve objectives.” One of the NFP’s stated goals for LSRs is “the development of old-growth forest characteristics including snags.” NFP S&G at B-5. However, the research logging pro16 The study would include twelve research units, each of thirty acres or more, in which three treatment levels would be implemented: no salvage (control group); moderate salvage, resulting in the retention of timber on thirty percent of the unit; and heavy salvage, which would entail logging the entire unit. Timbered Rock ROD at 3. 8950 OREGON NATURAL RESOURCES v. TIMBER PRODUCTS posed in the Project would itself result in the removal of hundreds (if not thousands) of snags, a fundamental component of LSRs. Moreover, the BLM states it is attempting to ensure that two-thirds of the dead trees in all size classes greater than twenty inches dbh would be maintained, but the BLM presents no evidence to support a claim that removing the remaining one-third would in fact assist with the “development of old-growth forest characteristics.” Thus, for the same reasons the Project falls short with regard to snag retention, it is also lacking with regard to its proposed research activities. [12] Under the second step of the inquiry, even if the proposed activities are inconsistent with these objectives, they might still be permitted if they “test critical assumptions . . . , produce results important for habitat development, or . . . represent continuation of long-term research” and there are “no equivalent opportunities outside Late-Successional Reserves.” The NFP mandates that while “[a]n important component of [the Plan] is the facilitation of research activities to gather information and test hypotheses in a range of environmental conditions, . . . every effort should be made to locate non-conforming [research] activities in land allocations where they will have the least adverse effect upon the objectives of the applicable standards and guidelines.” NFP ROD at 15. The BLM has failed to satisfy this requirement. [13] Even if the BLM is correct that the Project would test various assumptions in the NFP,17 it has provided no evidence that equivalent opportunities are unavailable in non-LSR areas. What is more, although the Project’s “research proposals are related to post-fire conditions and must be conducted 17 For example, the BLM argues that the “wildlife-snag research will evaluate snag levels that may be more appropriate to the drier portions of the NFP area,” and “reforestation research will address method of reforestation that may be more appropriate in land use allocations.” Timbered Rock FEIS at 1-12. OREGON NATURAL RESOURCES v. TIMBER PRODUCTS 8951 in a recently burned area,” the BLM concedes “a number of these areas exist within southwest Oregon,” and the BLM makes little more than the conclusory statement that “conducting this research in an LSR is appropriate” in supporting its proposed research projects. Timbered Rock FEIS at 1-12. Thus, the research proposed under the Project fails to comply with the NFP’s guidelines. [14] In sum, the BLM’s interpretation of the Plan is plainly inconsistent with the NFP’s directives regarding LateSuccessional Reserves. As a result, the snag removal and research activities proposed in the Timbered Rock Project are at odds with the Plan and, consequently, violate FLPMA.