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Helicopter carrying timber along the Breitenbush River in the Willamette National Forest

The Forest stretches for over 100 miles (160 km) along the western slopes of the Cascade Range in western Oregon. It extends from the Mt. Jefferson area east of Salem to the Calapooya Ridge which divides the watersheds of the Willamette and Umpqua Rivers. The Forest is 1,675,407 acres (6,780 km²) in size. The elevation of the Forest ranges from about 1,500 feet (460 m) above sea level on the western edge of the forest to almost 10,500 feet (3,200 m) at the top of Mt. Jefferson, Oregon's second highest peak. Over 380,000 acres (1,540 km²) of the Forest are Congressionally designated as Wilderness. Seven major peaks of the Cascades -- Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Washington, Three Fingered Jack, Diamond Peak, North, Middle and South Sisters -- as well as numerous high moutain lakes are within these wilderness areas. The McKenzie River and the North Fork of the Middle Fork of the Willamette River are Congressionally designated as Wild and Scenic Rivers.

The Willamette National Forest receives a large amount of precipitation each year from Pacific stroms that move from west to east across the forest. Much of the precipitation is received in the form of snow which accumulates in higher elevations from October through April. The rain and snowmelt drain into the the McKenzie, Santiam, and Willamette Rivers, which flow from the Forest and provide high qualit drinking water to the citizens of Eugene, Salem, Corvallis, and Albany. There are over 1,500 miles (2,400 km) of rivers and streams on the Forest and over 375 lakes.

The dominant tree speciews on the forest is the Douglas-fir, the State tree of Oregon. Douglas-fir is also a valuable timber species in the United States, so the forest ecosystem has suffered from decades of unsustainable clearcutting. The Forest still contains some stands of old-growth forest, some of which are over 300 feet tall, among the tallest trees in teh world, some with diameters ranging from three to eight feet.

Over one dozen other conifer species are common on the Forest as well, including western redcedar, incense cedar, white pine, ponderosa pine, Pacific yew, western hemlock, mountain hemlock, and several species of fir. The Willamette National Forest is home to over 300 species of fish and wildlife, including the northern spotted owl, northern bald eagle, chinook slamon, bull trout, red tree vole, wolverine, and several other sensitive and threatened species.

Official Forest website: http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/willamette/

Timber sale information: http://www.cascwild.org/timbersales/index.html

Background on the Northwest Forest Plan: http://www.onrc.org/info/srvmng.html