Defending Habitat in Deschutes National Forest
Mule deer in snow. Photo: Joe Dudeck
At LandWatch, we aim to defend and protect wildlife habitats for our regional and iconic species to thrive. As a part of that goal, we continually monitor proposed logging projects to make sure they’re in line with the Deschutes Forest Plan.
The Deschutes Forest Plan was created in 1990. A part of that plan requires the Forest Service to consider wildlife when conducting logging projects on public forest land. Management Areas were created to address the specific needs of different wildlife and land types. Deer and their winter range fall into this category under Management Area 7, where the goal is to: “manage vegetation to provide optimum habitat conditions on deer transition ranges.” .
Setting aside 30%
During the summer, when mule deer migrate to higher elevations, the Forest Plan protects this summer range: “designed to provide adequate habitat quantity and quality… This requires a mosaic of forested conditions incorporating the concepts of security and thermal cover, travel corridors, visual screens, and harassment potential from other activities, e.g. roads, hunting pressure, and other recreation use” (Forest Plan).
One intent of these protections is to ensure that deer will have enough tree cover. The Forest Plan calls for 30% of these areas to provide suitable hiding cover and forage for mule deer.
That’s why two recently released forest service project plans caught our eye. The Green Ridge Landscape Restoration Project and the Klone Vegetation Management project both seek to weaken these very protections by reducing deer hiding coverage below 30%.
Concern over Proposed Projects in Deschutes National Forest
In the Green Ridge Project above the Metolius River, 1,803 acres of deer range (Management Area 7) were located in the project area, which would be logged below 30% coverage. Last month, we submitted comments with our concerns, including the excessive logging of mule deer habitat, to the Forest Service. Read more here.
The Klone Project, on the flanks of Newberry Crater, includes many miles of new roads. Studies conducted throughout the project area found that two of the top three deer mortality causes were related to roads, including high traffic issues, road density, and poaching (EA - 207). Road densities in every area of this project are above the recommended safe threshold for deer in summer range.
It is crucial that enough trees and foliage are maintained to provide hiding cover for mule deer. The Klone Project does not provide sufficient detail on what this habitat connectivity and hiding cover will look like, and could be reduced to only 17%.
The already struggling mule deer simply can’t take reductions below the required minimum levels of coverage for healthy habitat.
It’s clear from these projects that mule deer lose out to the Forest Service’s timber harvest goals.
As such, Central Oregon LandWatch will keep pushing back against habitat reductions within Forest Service plans to ensure deer have adequate safe habitat to survive in their forests.
Photo: Mark Thornhoff
Support Mule Deer Habitat Conservation
When we understand our relationship with Central Oregon’s public lands and open space as one of stewardship and reciprocity, we see that, just as the land cares for us, we must care for the land.
A big part of that is making sure Central Oregon’s iconic wildlife continue to thrive in this region. Together, we can ensure our region remains one where we can live as good neighbors to our wildlife by recognizing their homes on this landscape.