By GINA BINOLE/Oregon Public Broadcasting

A long-running effort to turn a coastal Oregon forest into a living laboratory took a major step forward this week, as federal officials approved two key wildlife protection plans tied to the Elliott State Research Forest.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Wednesday it had granted the Oregon Department of State Lands an 80-year habitat conservation plan, or HCP. The plan outlines how the state will protect species like the threatened marbled murrelet sea bird and northern spotted owl while allowing for limited research-based logging across the 83,000-acre forest in the Coast Range, northeast of Coos Bay.

The plan has been in development for years, part of the transformation of the Elliott from a state forest previously managed for revenue to a forest now guided by research and conservation. With this approval, the forest moves one step closer to formally launching as the Elliott State Research Forest — a public forest with a new mission.

Hours later, National Marine Fisheries Service announced it had also approved the plan, and issued key permits related to Oregon Coast coho salmon.

Environmental advocates who spent years pushing to protect the Elliott’s remaining old growth and threatened wildlife cautiously welcomed the news.

“There are hard-fought protection measures built into this plan,” said Bethany Cotton, conservation director with Cascadia Wildlands. “It’s not perfect, but it gives imperiled species like the marbled murrelet and northern spotted owl a real shot at survival — and that’s something worth celebrating.”

Joe Liebezeit, the statewide conservation director for the Bird Alliance of Oregon, echoed those thoughts.

“One thing we really like about this particular HCP is that there is a research element to it, which is unique among HCPs,” Liebezeit said. “I think it’s good forward movement. That’s the main thrust. And we’ll just see how it all plays out.”

The Elliott’s transformation has been years in the making and has drawn interest from logging advocates, researchers, tribal governments and conservation groups alike. In 2017, Oregon halted efforts to privatize the forest and began developing a new public vision. That led to a governance model centered around Oregon State University.

Backers of the plan say it could serve as a national model for reconciling conservation and science with forest management. But critics remain concerned about how the plan will be implemented, and whether ecological promises will hold under future political and financial pressures.

“The only thing that gives me pause is that right now the Trump administration is really doing a lot to weaken the Endangered Species Act at the federal level,” Liebezeit said. But he added that this process was submitted under the previous administration, and it has the support of all parties involved.