Portland panelists back collaborative approach to forest policy

Collaboration that kept the John Day sawmill open may be a model as industry, agencies and environmental groups strive for a forest policy that everyone can live with. PORTLAND – The unexpected collaboration of industry, environmentalists and government agencies that saved mill jobs in Oregon’s Grant County could be a model for restoration forest policy elsewhere, panelists said at a May 27 timber symposium. Working with the U.S. Forest Service, the Blue Mountains Forest Partners helped forge a 10-year agreement to restore 272,000 acres of the Malheur National Forest through thinning projects and other work. The work, funded by a $2.5 ...