A New Way for Oregon’s Private Forests

Webinar:  Held live, via Zoom
6:30-7:30pm Thursday, January 27, 2022

The Audubon Society of Lincoln City invites the public to a webinar about Oregon’s new Private Forest Accord. The webinar is supported by Oregon Coast Community College’s Office of Engagement, which is facilitating the Zoom presentation and registration. 

Management of Oregon’s state and private forests has been mired in controversy for decades. Fish and wildlife habitat was depleted, water quality degraded and communities dependent on timber harvest were weighed down by regulatory uncertainty. There was plenty of debate but little changed. Until now. Private forest representatives, small forestland owners, conservation leaders and fishing organizations, tired of fighting, put aside their differences and sought common ground. After months of negotiations, an agreement known as the Private Forest Accord (PFA) was reached that heralds a new way of business for nearly 10 million acres of private forests.

Please join this webinar to learn how the PFA will protect threatened and endangered fish through a Habitat Conservation Plan, safeguard water quality, and provide rural timber communities with greater economic certainty. The panel speakers were at the table throughout the negotiations. They will share how this historic agreement came to be, what it means, and what still needs to happen to make it a reality for how Oregon moves forward into a new era of forest management.

Webinar panelists include:

Sean Stevens, Executive Director for Oregon Wild, is a lifelong Oregonian and outdoor recreational enthusiast. He is passionate about his leadership role with Oregon Wilds to  protect the special places found in our state that he loves and has always called home.

Kelly Burnett is a Research Fish Biologist formerly with the U.S. Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station in Corvallis. Her work centers around understanding the relationships between salmon and their freshwater habitats, landscape analysis of aquatic habitats, and land management to better design and evaluate policy options.

You will learn how forest practices in Oregon are changing for the better for all and what you can do to help support this historic turning point in our state’s management of our abundant natural resources.  A question and answer session is included in the hour long webinar.