West Alsea Landscape Management Project

• Author: Environmental Law Institute
• Pages: 31-32

NEPA SUCCESS STORIES 31

is case illustrated how pre-NEPA conversations

by agencies with interested publics can lead to suc-

cessful, ecient NEPA processes from a formerly-

contentious area of the Pacic Northwest: national

forest lands with threatened species.

In the summer of 2006, the Forest Service (FS)

proposed the West Alsea Landscape Management

Project. e West Alsea Landscape Management

Project planning area includes 40,000 acres in the

Oregon Coast Range, encompassing the lower

portion of the Alsea River watershed, located just

inland of Waldport, Oregon on the Siuslaw National

Forest. Diverse habitats support a variety of plant

and animal species, including the northern spotted

owl and marbled murrelet, both listed as threatened

under the Endangered Species Act. e purpose of

this project was to restore ecological conditions and

processes in the West Alsea area by encouraging the

development of old-growth habitat, improving habi-

tat diversity and watershed function, and providing

timber resources to local businesses.

Early on in the NEPA process, the FS Central Coast

Ranger District sought public input on this project,

including actively involving the Alsea Stewardship

Group (ASG), a collaborative group with diverse

representation working to promote stewardship

contracting and restoration projects on both public

and private lands within the Alsea watershed. e FS

rst informed ASG about the project nearly a year

before formal scoping began in 2007. e FS also

held two eld tours and met with a subset of ASG

several times to gain input and spread understanding

of the proposal.

During the development of this project, the FS took

recommendations from the ASG and other involved

individuals very seriously. e FS incorporated sug-

gestions and concerns into the proposed action both

prior to scoping and before the draft Environmental

Assessment (EA) was available for comments. e

FS also shared detailed maps and made resource

specialists available to work with interested citizens

who had recommendations or who wanted a better

understanding of what the project would do.

e involvement of the public, both before and

through the NEPA process, led the FS to consider al-

WEST ALSEA LANDSCAPE MANAGEMENT PROJECT

NEPA AS AN EARLY AND ONGOING PUBLIC DIALOGUE