The Oregon Department of Forestry is soliciting input from the conservation community on the revision of its monitoring strategy.  Please provide input by March 25 to Terry.Frueh@oregon.gov (Phone number: 503-945-7392)

The Oregon Department of Forestry  conducts different types of monitoring, including effectiveness monitoring  to determine whether implementation of the Oregon Forest Practices Rules is adequate to meet environmental protection goals.  The existing monitoring program is intended to provide information that will allow for regulatory changes when needed to improve environmental protections.

The current Forest Practices Monitoring Program Strategic Plan,  created in April 2002, is available here.

It is critical that the conservation community get involved and provide input regarding potential changes to ODF’s monitoring plan because the plan will set the agency’s agenda for monitoring and adaptive management for the foreseeable future.  Adaptive management is used to craft policy changes to existing forest practices rules.  Furthermore, the monitoring plan will determine how limited funds are spent in evaluating the effectiveness of the rules and making adaptive changes.

Terry Frueh, Monitoring Specialist with the Oregon Department of Forestry, made this presentation to the Oregon Stream Protection Coalition on February 4, 2015. about the monitoring strategy revisions.

Additional information is available in the ODF Monitoring Strategic Plan Charter Work Plan, January 2015, and Status of work on questions from 2002 Monitoring Strategy.