Who’s defending the Blue Mountains National Forests?

The Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon hold three national forests, the Wallowa-Whitman, Umatilla, and Malheur, spanning 5.4 million acres of mixed-conifer forest, alpine meadow, and river canyon. The Forest Service released the draft revised plan and DEIS in July 2026, and it skews heavily toward industry: the preferred direction would roughly triple commercial logging, remove the 21-inch screen that protected old and large trees, and strip protection from 722,000 acres of inventoried roadless area. This is the first new forest plan written to take advantage of changes to the Roadless Rule. A 90-day public comment period is open through September 30, 2026, and could lock in these losses for decades.

1. 1908Blue Mountains national forests established
2. 2001Roadless Rule protects 722,159 acres of inventoried roadless areas
3. 2023Forest Service initiates combined plan revision for all three forests
4. 2024Public comment period closes on draft assessment
5. 2026DEIS preparation advances, conservation groups raise alarm
6. 2026Draft plan and DEIS published, 90-day comment period opens
7. 2026Public comment period closes