A Much Improved Plan for the Metolius
Final Decision Notice on Green Ridge Project Addresses Conservation Concerns in the Metolius River Basin
Green Ridge (far left) in the Metolius River Basin
Ask 10 people why the Metolius River Basin is invaluable and you might get 10 different, equally inspiring answers. For LandWatch, one of its most remarkable values is the essential role the Basin plays as a sanctuary for wildlife in Central Oregon.
The Metolius River Basin is one of the last strongholds for Northern Spotted Owl east of the Cascades. It is a refuge for wolves, wolverine, and other wildlife expanding back into their historic range, and an essential connectivity corridor for migrating mule deer and elk. Black bears inhabit this lush area, as do mountain lions. The spring-fed river supports healthy populations of rainbow trout (including native redbands), large bull trout, brown trout, and the mountain whitefish for which the river is named.
Northern Spotted Owl | Frank Lospalluo
Kokanee spawning in the Metolius Basin
LandWatch has been a staunch defender of this magnificent basin since our organization’s origins in the 1980s, and we remain committed to protecting this Central Oregon wildland stronghold.
As such, we have long been concerned by the Forest Service’s Green Ridge project, a proposal to log nearly 25,000 acres of the Deschutes National Forest in the Metolius River Basin. Eight years after the Sisters Ranger District first proposed the Green Ridge project, the Forest Service finally issued its final decision in June 2025. Here, we dive into the implications of this long-awaited and closely-watched project decision.
A 25,000 acre logging project
Ponderosa pine in the Green Ridge project area | Caitlyn Burford
In 2017, the Forest Service first proposed the Green Ridge project. At that time it included 22,633 acres of logging, road building, prescribed fire and other treatments across 25,000 acres of the Metolius River Basin.
The project’s intent was to address historic logging, extensive clearcutting, road construction, fire suppression, and grazing, all of which negatively affected the resiliency and health of the forest. The Forest Service claimed the proposed Green Ridge project would “promote ecological restoration by reestablishing the composition, structure, pattern, and ecosystem processes necessary to facilitate terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem sustainability, resilience, and health under current and future conditions.”
LandWatch is supportive of forest projects focused on addressing the drivers of forest degradation. On its surface, the Green Ridge project’s need for action was one we can support.
However, the initial Green Ridge proposal included wall to wall treatments in the heart of a Central Oregon wildlands stronghold. In other words, the project proposed treatments across an enormous, contiguous swath of the Deschutes National Forest in Metolius Basin raising significant concerns about impacts to wildlife from a fuels-centric approach to forest management.
In October 2017, LandWatch submitted comments highlighting our concerns with the initial proposal, including:
Wall to wall treatments
From the start, a main concern for LandWatch was the large proportion of the project area slated for treatment. The project proposed treatments on 22,633 acres of the total 24,663-acre project area, leaving only 8.2% of the project area untreated; these untreated areas are generally identified as “Wildlife Retention Areas.”
Two Deschutes Forest Plan amendments
The Forest Service’s original proposal called for two Forest Plan amendments to allow treatments that reduce mule deer hiding and thermal cover below Forest Plan standards. Under the Deschutes Forest Plan, the Forest Service must maintain mule deer hiding and thermal cover above 30% as part of protective wildlife standards. However, through a planning process loophole, the forest service may authorize management actions that would otherwise be illegal under the Forest Plan.
Large tree logging
The project proposed broadscale logging of large trees (>20” dbh), including in sensitive Late Successional Reserves—zones managed to conserve and protect mature and old-growth trees—and Northern Spotted Owl core habitat areas. LandWatch had significant concerns about the impacts of large tree logging on wildlife and how large tree logging would address the drivers of degradation identified in the project purpose and need.
Riparian areas
The project proposed the use of mechanical equipment for forest treatments in riparian areas, raising concerns about soil runoff and reduced shading crucial to cold-water conditions. It is well established in the scientific literature that road building, logging, and the general use of ground-based mechanical equipment can have significant impacts on water quality.
A long journey to improvement
The Deschutes National Forest in the Metolius River Basin | Wasim Muklashy
Over the course of eight years, the proposed project evolved—mostly for the better. When the Forest Service released its Draft Decision in the spring of 2022, the project had been modestly scaled back to 19,437 acres and the proposed Forest Plan amendments for mule deer habitat had been removed.
However, the project still included wall-to-wall ground-based mechanical treatments–including in Riparian Reserves, large tree logging in sensitive wildlife areas, and a road network that exceeded forest plan road density standards and objectives. As a result, LandWatch filed a formal objection to the project specifically highlighting our concerns.
In June 2025, the Forest Service issued the final decision for the Green Ridge Project, addressing some of the issues raised by LandWatch and other conservation allies through the objection resolution process. The decision also modified project elements in response to newly identified owl habitat, and adjusted treatments in important mule deer habitat that state and tribal wildlife specialists identified.
The most notable changes included:
No large tree logging in Late Successional Reserves.
No large tree logging in Northern Spotted Owl core area habitat.
Hand thinning only in hardwood treatment units in Riparian Reserves.
Changes in treatments to mistletoe trees that would help preserve important wildlife habitat.
No treatment, or hand thinning only, of 205 acres of important mule deer habitat in the southwestern portion of the project area.
Reduction in the number of treated acres from 19,437 acres to 17,458 acres across the 24,663 acre project area.
LandWatch appreciates the changes made and the positive impact these will have on wildlife habitat in the project area.
Securing a Better Future for Wildlife
Mule deer | Matt Oliphant
The Forest Service made it clear from the start that the Green Ridge project was needed to address the degradation caused by historic logging, extensive clearcutting, road construction, and fire suppression. To be sure, addressing decades of harmful management actions is a necessary and complicated task.
However, after eight years, a central question for LandWatch remains: what would the Green Ridge project look like if wildlife, not fire, was the priority value driving treatment prescriptions?
While we appreciate the changes the Forest Service made to the Green Ridge project throughout its development, it would have been even better if we saw modifications to the project that better prioritized the needs of wildlife, minimized impacts to riparian areas, and more thoroughly addressed the historic drivers of degradation identified in the project’s purpose and need.
There are few places where forest management truly balances the needs of wildlife with other forest values. If there is any place in Central Oregon where we should strive to strike that balance, it is in the Metolius River Basin.
Although the Green Ridge decision does not fully achieve this balance, it may represent incremental progress toward more meaningfully prioritizing wildlife habitat on the Deschutes National Forest. Building from this much-improved project, LandWatch will continue to advocate for approaches to fuels reduction and recreation that also protect habitat for the benefit of the many species that call Central Oregon home.
The Metolius in autumn | Wasim Muklashy
UPCOMING EVENTS
