After 100 years as an agency, longtime Umpqua National Forest employees say the U.S. Forest Service mission remains as strong as ever.

"We're still managing programs for the good of the American public," said Jamie Stone, who started out on the UNF in 1976 and is currently the recreation and wilderness program manager.

"The passion and the love and the interest in the forest, I don't think that's changed," added another longtime UNF employee, John Sloan.

What has changed, officials agree, is a shift in emphasis.

Gone are the days when getting out the cut was the top priority, and when foresters were entrusted to make decisions on projects without involving the community.

In the '80s, the agency was harvesting upward of 300 million board feet. After the northern spotted owl was added to the threatened species list in 1990, timber harvests plummeted, down to 82 million board feet in 1993.

The 1994 Northwest Forest Plan was the Clinton administration's solution to alleviate the gridlock, but harvest levels continued to fall short of the 70 million board feet annual target set by the plan. Many complain Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management projects have been consistently tied up in court ever since.

Today's projects require consultation with a number of specialists, from soil scientists to hydrologists to archaeologists. The agency has strict rules to follow to analyze each project and involve the public. Rather than clearcuts, the agency focuses on thinning smaller trees. Restoring stream habitat, caring for rare species and protecting homes from fire as more people move into the forest are also priorities.

The shift has created controversy over how lands should be managed, a debate as old as the agency.


<b>POLICY CHANGES REQUIRE BROADER FOCUS</b>
Pressure to concentrate more on wildlife began with a series of policy changes in the 1960s and early '70s, including The Wilderness Act in 1964 and the Endangered Species Act in 1973.

During this time, the agency also began changing how it operated.

"It used to be just the purview of the foresters and the forestry technicians" when planning timber sales, said Sloan, whose duties include heading the recreation and roads programs.

The National Environmental Policy Act of 1970 set up strict guidelines for creating environmental impact statements and soliciting public comment.

During the '70s, the agency also began a wave of hiring of every type of "ologist."

The National Forest Management Act of 1976 required each national forest to create 15-year management plans that incorporated all the resources the agency is entrusted to oversee, such as recreation, fisheries and, of course, timber. That was a new direction for the agency, and it caused a stir in the community, said Bob Devlin, supervisor on the Umpqua from 1985 to 1991.

"The only thing they looked at was the volume. We ended up fighting over the number," he said.

Another debate raged over whether to set aside wilderness. The Umpqua Wilderness Defenders formed in favor, while another group, the Southern Oregon Resource Alliance, warned of the implication of locking up forests from management.

It took 11 years, but today the Umpqua has three wilderness areas: Boulder Creek, Mount Thielsen and the Rogue-Umpqua Divide, all designated in 1984. The three areas make up 76,567 acres.

Devlin supervised the UNF just as a more extreme shift was about to happen.

As logging slowed in the '90s, some people within the agency became frustrated, Devlin said.

"There was a lot of anger by some folks because it not only impacted their jobs, but it also impacted their communities," said Devlin, who worked at the regional office in Portland until his retirement in 2000. Now living in Gresham, he still volunteers with the agency and keeps up with issues throughout the region.

He said the staff members who lived through the changes have come to accept the new direction.

"I think the majority of the people in the organization realized that not only were the changes necessary, but we needed to learn to live with them," he said.

But public trust began to wane.

"The public is a little bit more cynical, a little bit more skeptical, not as trusting as they once were in general," Sloan said. "I think that's a reflection of the public's perception of government."

In addition, Devlin said, some people have simply dropped out of the discussion of how lands should be managed.

"Because the Forest Service hasn't been as big a player as it was in the '80s, I think the public interest has drifted away," he said. "I think that's been a real chore for (current UNF Supervisor) Jim Caplan to try and keep that interest up."

He's encouraged to see former faces resurface with the year-old group, Communities for Healthy Forests, that grew from a Roseburg Area Chamber of Commerce and Douglas Timber Operators field trip. He said it's important for the agency to continue to solicit comment from a wide range of interests.


<b>THE FUTURE OF THE AGENCY</b>
Devlin thinks the new focus on restoration was necessary and positive.

"I'm proud of the way the agency responded," he said.

Even if the spotted owl were delisted, the agency's focus has permanently evolved as land managers have come to better understand species' needs, he said.

"I don't think there would ever be a change back to the timber volumes we had before," he said.

However, the new agency faces a series of challenges looking into the future, officials say.

Officials agree the agency -- and its budget -- will continue to shrink. As a result, it has to get creative.

"To survive you're going to have to find more partnerships" with other agencies, counties and organizations, Sloan said.

Devlin is concerned about a lack of money to manage the forests.

"We're not doing the owl, and we're not doing the fish any good by letting those acres burn up," he said, referring to recent catastrophic fires, fueled by years of fire suppression and overgrown forests. "We can have a healthy forest initiative, but without funding, it really doesn't mean much."

Sloan said the agency is still accomplishing much good work, and the Bush administration has made changes the past two years to try and streamline the paperwork and analysis that can bog down the planning process.

A steady constant amid change is that Forest Service employees are as passionate and proud of the land they manage as ever.

"It's still remarkable to think that there's a million acres" where you can drive and explore anywhere you like, Stone said. "And it's as special to do that today as it was 30 years ago."



* You can reach reporter Diane Huber at 957-4218 or by e-mail at dhuber@newsreview.info.