Forest management involves caring for and managing not only the trees in the forest, but also the streams, habitats, watersheds, and even rotting trees or logs on the forest floor . Managing our forests is important not only for wildlife, but also for our future economy and way of life. We must continue to save Oregon's forests and help the ecosystems there, because humans are part of the ecosystem too. By using forest management it can help certain species of wildlife. Some bird species, such as the pileated woodpecker, need large snags to build nesting cavities(7). But the worst possible approach to maintaining high species diversity would be to manage every acre of forest the same way. Any change in forest habitat creates “winners”; and “losers”. As forests go through natural cycles of growth, death, and regeneration, species may inhabit or disappear from a given area in part in response to natural changes in the structure of trees and other forest vegetation(4). The same thing happens when forest stands are managed by humans. Unless credible future research indicates otherwise, efforts should be made to manage a wide range of forest structures. Maintaining diversity would be better served by using a broader range of management tools. This would include harvesting on federal lands – not simply thinning – and increasing commitment to old-growth attributes on private forest lands through techniques such as retaining large trees and snags. As long as federal lands are primarily devoted to providing late-successional habitat, private forest lands may be devoted primarily to younger, intensively managed stands, provided essential habitat characteristics are available. Federal lands represent more than 50 to 60% of forests. in Oregon(3). Because timber harvesting is now significantly reduced on federal lands, these lands represent a large and well-distributed basin of old-growth forests and forests that have the potential to become old-growth forests, providing habitat for forest-associated species with ancient forest. Even though much of federal land is dedicated to maintaining species that require old-growth forests, the difficult question remains: How much is enough? Leaving these forests completely unlogged results in unacceptable large-scale insect infestations and catastrophic fires (6). Since federal lands make up nearly 50 to 60 percent of Oregon's forests, practices on these lands have a major impact on forest vertebrates (2). These lands are well distributed throughout the state. Private land ownership accounts for approximately 40 percent of the state's forests (5). Of this private property, more than half belongs to industrial companies and the rest is held mainly by small forest owners(7). Since 1992, the harvest on federal lands has fallen sharply..