The Oregon State University College of Forestry has a released a draft of its new management plan for the McDonald-Dunn Research Forest that surrounds much of Corvallis.
OSU owns the forest, and they have announced they’ll be accepting public comments until Friday, July 18. The draft and an online form to submit comments can be found here.
After that, the College of Forestry says they will finalize the plan for implementation this fall.
They also said the 2025 McDonald-Dunn Forest Plan is the first full update of the forest’s management plan in 20 years.
“We’re grateful to everyone who contributed to the draft of this carefully and thoughtfully produced stewardship plan,” said Holly Ober, the college’s associate dean for science outreach. “Management decisions will be made with the intention of promoting long-term resilience, and recognizing that climatic conditions are changing, the plan is written with flexibility to enable new approaches as conditions demand.”
A few months after becoming the college’s dean in 2020, Tom DeLuca formed a College Research Forests Advisory Committee to build a process for creating a new management plan for the 11,500-acre forest, which enables experiential education for OSU students, supports long- and short-term research projects for multiple scientists and institutions, and provides recreational and educational opportunities for the general public.
The university says the forest management plan process included public input sessions and collaboration among the college, its faculty, community members, Tribal representatives and multiple organizational partners including the Oregon departments of Forestry and Fish and Wildlife, the Benton County parks department and the nonprofit Greenbelt Land Trust.
“The plan addresses climate change, shifting needs for wood products and the growing importance of resilient landscapes,” Ober said. “It helps start us down a path toward what the future of learning on the forest will look like.”
As it does under the current management plan released in 2005, McDonald-Dunn will serve as a self-sustaining, actively managed living laboratory that allows recreation such as hiking, bicycling and horseback riding, according to Ober.
OSU says the acreage of forest managed according to even-aged short rotations will decrease but not disappear because it allows for experimentation with new species or new genetic sources for existing species on a short time scale in response to changing climatic conditions. It also allows for scientific comparisons between conventional short rotation forestry and alternative practices.
They say the new management plan calls for a net reduction in timber harvesting, from a recommended 6 million board feet annually in the 2005 plan to under 5 million board feet in the updated plan.
“The actual average annual harvest from 2013 through 2024 was 5.2 million board feet,” Ober said. “Calculations associated with achieving the objectives of the draft plan indicate the sustainable annual harvest level will average 4.3 million board feet.”
During the public meetings process, heavy opposition arose, almost all of it seeking to reduce the amount of harvesting the university does. Issues concerning the cutting of old growth trees weighed prominently.
New recreational user plan will be next
Once the forest management plan is finalized, the college says it will begin a process to develop a new visitor use management plan. Ober stresses that recreational access will remain in place and that the visitor use management plan process will include several opportunities for public input.
Back to the draft plan, OSU says these are the takeaways…
- Stands stewarded toward older forest conditions will increase from about 350 acres to more than 1,100.
- Portions of the forest devoted to experimental restoration will be conducted in partnership with Tribal nations and explore a variety of approaches for restoring specific ecosystems of concern.
- There will be an increase in stands managed according to even-aged, long rotations, which will allow learning opportunities about forest management across longer time spans while providing important wildlife habitat.
- Stands managed as structurally and compositionally complex will also increase in acreage, enabling opportunities to better understand aspects of managing multiple species of trees and trees of various ages.
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