Improving the Efficiency of Timber Supply While Saving the Fish: The Umpqua Land Exchange Project
By John Sessions
ABSTRACT
Western land development initiatives by the federal government led to a fragmented ownership in much of
western Oregon. A project to examine the feasibility of voluntary land exchanges between public and private owners to
increase ecological health of fish and other species in Umpqua Basin while maintaining timber supply has been initiated. A
landscape model has been developed to quantitatively link geomorphic and management related variables to species habitat
suitability so that solutions can be systematically assessed. A pilot study to develop and test the methodology has been
completed and data compilation is in the final stages for the first 675,000 acre (2700 sq. km) analysis unit.
KEYWORDS: fisheries, habitat suitability, landscape analysis, forest planning, land exchanges, combinatorial optimization
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