Interagency Strategy for the Pacific Northwest Natural Areas Network (PDF)

The FS and BLM are active participants in an interagency natural areas program in Oregon and Washington. Other participants include the National Park Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service in the Department of Interior; Departments of the Navy, Army, and Energy; Oregon Natural Heritage Program at Oregon State University; Washington Department of Natural Resources; and the Oregon and Washington state offices of The Nature Conservancy. Using the same classification system to identify the natural areas, this group of agencies has cooperated on establishment and management of a natural areas program in Oregon and Washington for over 35 years. Though each agency has individual policies and regulations regarding their own natural areas, cooperation on identification, management direction and database sharing has resulted in a strong partnership and a program of over 300 established RNAs and preserves in the two states.

The Natural Heritage Plans for the states of Washington and Oregon list by ecoregion the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, otherwise known as elements or cells, to be protected in an RNA system. The Washington Department of Natural Resources and the Oregon Department of State Lands publish these plans respectively. In order to search out areas or types of ecosystems you are interested in on this website click on RNA Sites. Each established RNA in the Forest Service or the BLM has an individual write-up describing the area and its location.