Requires Prompt Reforestation
On average, more than 100 million new trees are planted each year in Oregon’s forests. Reforestation is required any time stocking drops below established standards following harvest. Landowners have 12 months to begin reforestation and 24 months to complete replanting. They also must control competing vegetation until the young conifers are “free to grow.” Regulations require conifers to reach this point within six years. Reforestation success now approaches 100 percent.

Requires Written Plans
The Oregon Department of Forestry must be notified of all harvesting operations and provided site maps for review. Written plans are required for harvesting and road construction near streams and on steep slopes in order to minimize the possibility of landslides, sediment and other materials entering streams.

Protects Water Resources
To protect bodies of water in forests, particularly where fish and domestic water supplies are involved, harvest operations are restricted within a certain distance from the banks. Protecting these streamsides, known as riparian management areas, promotes mature forest conditions, including large trees that provide shade and help keep the water cool. It also helps maintain fish habitat and prevent sediment from entering the stream. Application of herbicides and fertilizer is restricted near streams.

Protects Wildlife Habitat
Wildlife biologists have learned that snags and fallen trees, as they decay, provide nesting sites and other habitat for many birds, mammals and other animals. Green trees help provide immediate structural complexity in the new forest and promote characteristics similar to those found in mature forests. A landowner must leave at least two green trees or snags plus two down logs per acre in any clearcut harvest unit larger than 25 acres. Harvest operations must be avoided or modified in areas near sensitive bird nesting, roosting or watering sites, particularly sites used by osprey, great blue herons, bald eagles or northern spotted owls. Landowners must be responsive to the nesting and feeding needs of a wide variety of forest wildlife.

Limits Clearcuts
Clearcuts are limited to 120 acres within a single ownership, although in actual practice the average clearcut is much smaller than that. A clearcut cannot take place within 300 feet of another clearcut on the same ownership if the combined acreage exceeds 120 acres unless the earlier harvested area has been successfully reforested.

Regulates Road Construction and Maintenance
Strict regulations govern the location, construction, maintenance and repair of roads on both state and private forestland. They must avoid marshes, meadows, drainage channels, riparian areas and, when possible, steep terrain. Where a road has to cross a stream, culverts and bridges must be engineered to allow fish passage and to pass flood flows without damage. Roads, adjacent ditches and culverts must be maintained regularly to prevent landslides and avoid erosion and runoff that might enter streams.