TILLAMOOK, Ore. (AP) — The Oregon Board of Forestry Board wants to make it easier to show off which parts of state forests are protected as habitat for fish and wildlife and older forest.
The board voted 4-2 Thursday in Tillamook to direct Department of Forestry staff to develop new rules on the issue.
Department of Forestry spokesman Dan Postrel says the move was inspired by Gov. John Kitzhaber's speech to the board last fall urging them to make state forests a model for resolving longstanding conflicts between the timber industry and conservationists.
Postrel says the new rules will not take any more state forest land out of timber production, but will make it easier to highlight just how much of the forest is managed for conservation.
