Our Mission Statement

Our primary mission is to safeguard old-growth and mature forest habitat here in Oregon.  We focus on a variety of matters facing Oregon's forests, and their impact on other environmental concerns such as endangered species, water quality, and climate change.   We consider the true value of our forests to be their critical role in the preservation of a healthy planet. 

 

About Forest Web

Forest Web was founded in 2007 by a local group of conservation advocates in Cottage Grove, Oregon.  Our original purpose was to oppose the Western Oregon Plan Revision (WOPR) on behalf of the old-growth forests on BLM lands in Lane County.   Today, Forest Web continues to be a grassroots organization engaged in the preservation not only of local old-growth forests, but also of the wildlife, watersheds, and all forest ecosystems throughout the Pacific Northwest.

 

  • Forest Web organizes field trips to National Forests, BLM lands, and Oregon State Forests to promote awareness of Oregon’s forestry issues on our public lands.

 

  • We encourage public participation by providing information on Forest Service timber sale proposals and notices of public hearings on National and State forest policies, aerial herbicide spraying, and other environmental issues.

 

  • Forest Web takes an active role in the comment process on timber sales and management plans.

 

  • We organize lobbying campaigns for environmental concerns such as clear-cutting in state forests and the cumulative impact on our climate caused by logging our planet’s richest carbon sinks.

 

Forest Web of Cottage Grove

Our First Campaign - Protesting the WOPR​​

Forest Web of Cottage Grove
Forest Web of Cottage Grove

In 2007, the Western Oregon Plan Revision (WOPR) proposed to

restructure the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) management

plan for 2.5 million acres of public forest land in Oregon, opening up

hundreds of thousands of acres to clear-cut harvesting methods,

placing thousands of private water sources and public watersheds at

risk due to erosion, and jeopardizing fragile riparian zones (areas

bordering creeks, streams, and rivers).  Not only did the 1600-page

proposal allow for the destruction of most of the remaining old-growth

forest stands in the state, it did not meet the federal requirements of

the Clean Air and Water Act or the Endangered Species Act.

 

The WOPR was the result of a George W. Bush Administration lawsuit settlement with the

timber industry.  It would have nullified much of the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan (which

was already considered the bare minimum necessary for the protection of Oregon's public

forests).  The timber industry would have profited by destroying future natural resources

and jobs with their heavily-mechanized harvesting practices, replacing our public forests

with timber plantations.

 

As a group, town and rural residents banded together and formed Forest Web of Cottage

Grove to oppose the WOPR.  We worked at educating the press and public officials about

the danger facing our forest lands via organized treks into the midst of these beautiful old

growth stands.  We provided information on the details of the WOPR to the residents of

Cottage Grove and organized letter-writing, phone bank, and postcard campaigns.  During

the BLM's public comment period on the WOPR, we organized the community with a series

of events to generate written comments providing arguments against the implementation of

a plan that would overturn years of habitat restoration and endangered species protection.

This was soeffective, it prompted the Eugene BLM office to ask, "who are those people in Cottage Grove?"

 

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