Project Overview

Owned by the Oregon State Land Board and managed by the Oregon Department of State Lands, the Oregon Coastal Forestry Project is in southern Oregon, spanning Coos and Douglas counties across the Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Tenmile coastal watersheds. The Coastal Oregon Forestry Project covers 83,000 acres of state forest in southern Oregon, spanning Coos and Douglas counties across the Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Tenmile coastal watersheds. The land is owned by the Oregon State Land Board and managed by the Oregon Department of State Lands.

The Coastal Oregon Forestry Project is a biodiversity stronghold. There are, with over 209 species currently known or likely to exist on or adjacent to the forest. Management is built around maintaining and improving conditions for those native species and the aquatic and terrestrial habitats they depend on.

Specific Species: The southern torrent salamander is one of the project’s clearest success stories. Found only in the coastal forests of Oregon and Northern California, it needs cold, clear, low-sediment streams under dense canopy — the exact conditions that intensive logging destroys first. By reducing harvest and protecting the watersheds’ streams and seeps, the project maintains the habitat this sensitive species depends on, making its presence a real indicator of forest health.

Carbon Revenue: The Elliott State Research Forest (ESRF) was established as an independent entity with its own dedicated fund, where all revenues, including timber, carbon, and other sources—are retained. While this structure separates the forest financially, it is intentionally designed to be self-sufficient, which calls for a diversified revenue model rather than a reliance on timber alone. Carbon revenue is central to that model: it funds forest management while the project moves away from intensive harvest toward a balance of financial sustainability and broader public benefits — research, conservation, and ecosystem services. It’s an innovative model for a public forest, and one that could inform similar efforts elsewhere.

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