Hood River County has been informed it will be protected under terms of the recently approved Private Forest Accord between private landowners and environmental groups.  County Commission Chair Mike Oates says the accord calls for changing forest practice rules in a way that expands protections for fish and amphibians, and protect private forest land owners from lawsuits.  But the accord rules were going to apply to county and state-owned lands without the lawsuit protections.  Oates says they were told last week Hood River County will be able to opt-in to the protections as well.  Oates notes the regulations under the accord won’t have a large impact on the County’s forest practices, but it does put minimums in where the County would always evaluate each site individually.