Report: More of western Oregon is forested today than a century ago

There is more wood in western Oregon's forests than there was 100 years ago, a new report says. The study from the Oregon Forest Resources Institute also concludes that more acres are covered by forests than were in 1900 and more wood is growing than is being harvested. But that doesn't necessarily mean the forests we have today are more ecologically sound than what was here four decades after Oregon became a state. "The only thing we looked at is timber volume," said Mike Cloughesy, director of forestry for the institute, a state agency funded by timber harvest taxes. The 18-page report compares two snapshots of western Oregon forests: one done by the country's lead science agency at the turn of the last century and another survey using today's satellite and other mapping technologies. "There is less older forest than there was, but the change has not been as drastic as most people think," the report said. Cloughesy said the area covered by forests has increased because of forest growth and the evolution of wildland firefighting policies and techniques...The Oregonian