Blue Mountain Forest Plan meetings begin this month

BLUE MOUNTAINS – The Forest Service invites the public to attend informational public meetings this winter about the important upcoming scoping period for the Blue Mountains Forest Plan Revision process, estimated to occur in early 2025. 

The public meetings schedule is available on the Forest Plan Revision website along with virtual links to the meetings for folks who cannot make it in person. To attend virtually, simply click on the ‘Get Involved’ button under the Public Engagement and Participation section of the homepage and scroll down to the calendar.

All of the meetings are held from 5-8 p.m. with doors opening at 4:30 p.m. There are three meetings this month hosted by the Umatilla National Forest. They are Feb.24 at the Gilliam & Bisbee Event Center in Heppner; Feb. 25 at the Pendleton Convention Center; and Feb. 26 at the Columbia County Fairgrounds Pavilion in Dayton, Washington.

Malheur National Forest is hosting two meetings. On March 3 the first is at the Grant County Fairgrounds Trowbridge Pavilion in John Day. Second is March 4 at the Harney County Fairgrounds Memorial Building in Burns.

The remaining meetings are hosted by the Wallowa Whitman National Forest. They are on March 5 at Cloverleaf Hall in Enterprise; March 6 at the Baker County Fairgrounds in Baker City; and on March 7 at Eastern Oregon University in La Grande.

All of the meetings are also able to be attended virtually. Instructions on how to attend virtually are in paragraph 2 above.

The Winter 2025 public meetings aim to cover the following:

• The draft Preliminary Need to Change from the 1990 Land Management Plans.
• The development of the Preliminary Draft Land Management Plan.
• Updates on the National Wild and Scenic Rivers review, the preliminary Species of Conservation Concern lists, and the review of lands that may have Wilderness characteristics.
• The NOI approval process along with the forthcoming EIS development.
• The formal scoping period commencing when the upcoming NOI is published in the Federal Register in early 2025, along with the associated public engagement tools.

Want to learn more about the Blue Mountains Forest Plan Revision process ahead of the public meetings? Visit our website to watch informational webinars: https://tinyurl.com/393byufa.

Have questions about the Blue Mountains Forest Plan Revision process or want to sign up for the mailing list? Email the revision inbox at sm.fs.bluesforests@usda.gov or call (541) 278-3716.

Editor’s note: This release was prepared by the National Forest Service. Local information about the meetings’ time, date, and location was added by Elkhorn Media Group

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Elkhorn Media Group