Western Lane District fills 25 seasonal postions for wildland firefighters each summer. These positions include firefighters and Forest Officers who respond to wildland fires in Western Lane County and Northern Douglas County. Employees report to one of two offices in the District. The main headquarters is located in Veneta and the substation is located on the Florence coast. Although Western Lane District is not able to provide housing for our seasonal employees, Veneta is located just 12 miles west of Eugene, where many of our firefighters are able to find housing.

To read more about fire fighting jobs with Western Lane check out our jobs page for job opportunities after January 17th, 2012. If you have any questions regarding firefighting jobs at Western Lane, please feel free to contact Tom Soward at (541)935-2283 or email him at tsoward@odf.state.or.us.

Backyard burning in Lane County is managed by the Lane Regional Air Pollution Agency. To check on the backyard burning regulations please follow the LRAPA link below.

For Smoke Management questions please navigate to our Smoke Management page on the right hand column.

Western Lane is not able to offer recreation activity in our state forests mainly due to the location of the lands within the district. However, within Western Lane there are endless areas to recreate.

For more information on State Forest Recreation around Oregon, please visit our Salem Page.

For information about State Parks, County Parks, National Forests, and BLM recreation areas within Lane County please follow the links.

Western Lane District will be issuing wood cutting permits on February 7th 2012. The permits are on a first come, first serve basis. If you have recieved 2 (two) cords of wood or 2 (two) wood cutting permits within the current firewood cutting season (October 2011 to present) then you are ineligible for another permit through Western Lane District. The permits MUST be picked up at the office by the person who's name will be on the permit, no exceptions, no permits will be mailed and you need to have a vehicle description and matching license plate for the vehicle used to haul wood. The permits are free of charge and good for a maximum of 2 (two) cords of wood. There is more information about wood cutting permits from State Forests in other districts on the department's firewood cutting web page. You may also find the U.S. Forest Service to be useful, as well as the Bureau of Land Management.

Western Lane District's fire protection program provides
fire prevention, fire detection, pre-suppression and fire suppression to our local forest wild lands. The District's headquarters is located in Veneta. District operations are supported by the subunit office in Florence. Learn more about Oregon Forestland-Urban Interface Fire Protection Act of 1997 and how to protect your home against forest fires.

The Western Lane Private Forest Program is comprised of four stewardship foresters. Robin Biesecker, Paul Clements and Bob Johnson are located in the Veneta office and our fourth forester Jim Hall is located in our Florence office. The stewardship foresters promote and follow Oregon's Forest Practice Act, and apply it to all private operations be that industrial and non industrial.