Forest landowners in northeast Oregon are dealing with the effects of nearly a century of fire suppression. With low timber prices and rising wildfire risk, many need financial assistance to complete fuels reduction and forest thinning on private land.
This assistance often comes through the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service, working with the Oregon Department of Forestry. To qualify, landowners must have a current, written forest management plan — but there aren’t enough professionals available to meet the demand for plans.
This work benefits Oregonians by improving forest health, reducing wildfire risk and protecting homes, watersheds and wildlife habitat.
To help address this, partners in the My Blue Mountains Woodland network — including Oregon State University Extension Service — worked together to expand planning and restoration capacity. Their efforts have helped secure more than $9 million to support forest restoration and reduce wildfire risk.
The partnership connects with landowners to raise awareness about fuels reduction and forest health. They offer site visits from professionals, access to financial aid, and use an online tool called WoodsCamp to engage landowners who may not be actively managing their land.
WoodsCamp helps landowners learn about their property, define personal land management goals and get matched with resources and services.
Because the shortage of foresters remained a barrier, OSU Extension teamed up with Wallowa Resources and consulting forester Chuck Sarrett to recruit and train a new group of forest technicians.
Working with the Oregon Department of Forestry, NRCS and other partners, they developed a 48-hour training focused on local forest conditions, landowner communication and planning requirements.
Trainees received a GIS-based data collection app, a simplified management plan template and reference materials. Each technician was paired with a mentor and wrote three supervised plans.
Three of the four original technicians later joined area consulting firms and launched their own forestry practices. As of December 28, 2023, they had completed 241 plans covering 143,683 acres of forestland.
The program was designed to be flexible and accessible for people at all career stages. The first cohort included young mothers returning to forestry careers after stepping away to raise families.
With compact training days, a generous stipend and mentoring support, the program provided a pathway for them to re-enter the field.
Landowners praised the resulting plans for being clear, concise and visually rich — including photos of current and desired forest conditions and easy-to-follow recommendations.
The “basic” forest management plan template developed through the program has been widely shared and added to the Oregon Forest Management Plan resources website.
“A written forest management plan is an essential tool for family forestland owners — it helps them organize and get the on-the-ground work done to improve forest health, reduce fire risk and achieve their other objectives,” said OSU Extension forester Glenn Ahrens.
“The MBMW team jumped at the opportunity to build the professional capacity to help landowners obtain plans fitted to their individual stewardship goals — and we were fortunate to recruit an extraordinary cadre of forest technicians. They’ll be a tremendous resource in northeast Oregon for years to come.”
Partners in My Blue Mountains Woodland include OSU Extension, NRCS, Oregon Department of Forestry, Wallowa Resources, the American Forest Foundation, U.S. Forest Service, Oregon Forest Resources Institute and the Blue Mountains Cohesive Wildfire Strategy.
This work benefits Oregonians by improving forest health, reducing wildfire risk and protecting homes, watersheds and wildlife habitat. It also strengthens rural economies by supporting local forestry professionals and landowners in sustainable land management.