The OregonianBy Doug Robertson and Tony Hyde
With their proposed O&C Trust, Conservation and Jobs Act, Democratic Reps. Peter DeFazio, Kurt Schrader and Republican Greg Walden prove that bipartisanship is alive and well, at least in Oregon. Federal forest management has been paralyzed for 20 years, but Walden, DeFazio and Schrader propose to break the gridlock in western Oregon, rescuing county finances and creating thousands of jobs. The Association of O&C Counties applauds the hard work and leadership of these three congressmen. They provide a model of statesmanship for all our elected officials to follow.
Timber receipts from the historic O&C lands once funded 18 counties in western Oregon. When changes in federal policies brought harvests to a screeching halt in the early 1990s, there followed a series of "safety net" payments from Congress that were supposed to be a temporary bridge until harvests could resume to more reasonable levels. We remain at about 10 percent of historic harvests, and time has proved that reasonable harvest levels are impossible without legislative corrections. And, the national Treasury is empty -- the last safety net checks have been written. Schrader, DeFazio and Walden propose a legislative solution that will allow harvests sufficient to fund county services at reasonable levels, even though harvests would remain well below levels of the late 1980s.
The proposal is not just about harvesting; it is also about saving and conserving -- old growth and the environment, as well as jobs and our communities. The proposal includes historic conservation measures, including: (1) preservation of all old-growth timber on more than 1 million acres of federal land; (2) creation or expansion of three wilderness areas totaling more than 90,000 acres; and (3) addition of more than 150 miles of stream corridors to protections under Wild and Scenic Rivers legislation. The portion of the land made available for sustained-yield timber production would be limited primarily to those stands previously harvested and now dominated by the youngest classes of timber. One-half of that harvestable acreage would have to be managed so the timber would be 100-120 years old before harvest -- more than double the normal commercial harvest age -- providing an additional half-million acres of habitat for wildlife that prefers older timber, on top of all the protected stands of old growth. The Clean Water Act and other environmental laws would apply, with management by a board of trustees appointed by the governor.
On the economic side of the ledger, results would be just as impressive. Instead of mills closing and being torn down, as has been occurring for two decades, mill owners would have assurances of a sufficiently stable timber supply to justify investments in new plants and equipment. Export of logs would be prohibited, assuring the timber supply would stay right here at home as raw material to support manufacturing and other jobs. Small businesses, the engines of job growth, would receive guaranteed access to a portion of the supply. Economists predict as many as 12,000 new jobs, not counting additional thousands of contract jobs in the woods, and not counting thousands more jobs in county government saved by the revenues that would continue to be available to pay for county services, even though the federal safety net has come to an end. Those jobs would jump-start a revival of local economies perennially plagued by rampant unemployment.
County governments are teetering on the brink of economic disaster. Unless dramatic steps are taken soon, county finances will start to topple like dominos, first Curry County and, eventually, Lane, Klamath, Josephine, Coos, Douglas and others. Some counties you might not expect will be very seriously hurt -- Polk and Columbia counties, for example, depend on O&C monies for large parts of budgets that fund public safety and other essential services. And if the counties' finances fold, the state of Oregon will have to pick up the tab to avoid chaos, and that burden on the state will be at the expense of every program and every citizen, statewide.
We all have a stake in the success of the proposal championed by DeFazio, Walden and Schrader. The 11-member board of directors of the Association of O&C Counties unanimously supports the proposal and asks all Oregonians to do the same.
Doug Robertson, a Douglas County commissioner, is president of the Association of O&C Counties. Tony Hyde, a Columbia County commissioner, is vice president.
With their proposed O&C Trust, Conservation and Jobs Act, Democratic Reps. Peter DeFazio, Kurt Schrader and Republican Greg Walden prove that bipartisanship is alive and well, at least in Oregon. Federal forest management has been paralyzed for 20 years, but Walden, DeFazio and Schrader propose to break the gridlock in western Oregon, rescuing county finances and creating thousands of jobs. The Association of O&C Counties applauds the hard work and leadership of these three congressmen. They provide a model of statesmanship for all our elected officials to follow.
Timber receipts from the historic O&C lands once funded 18 counties in western Oregon. When changes in federal policies brought harvests to a screeching halt in the early 1990s, there followed a series of "safety net" payments from Congress that were supposed to be a temporary bridge until harvests could resume to more reasonable levels. We remain at about 10 percent of historic harvests, and time has proved that reasonable harvest levels are impossible without legislative corrections. And, the national Treasury is empty -- the last safety net checks have been written. Schrader, DeFazio and Walden propose a legislative solution that will allow harvests sufficient to fund county services at reasonable levels, even though harvests would remain well below levels of the late 1980s.
The proposal is not just about harvesting; it is also about saving and conserving -- old growth and the environment, as well as jobs and our communities. The proposal includes historic conservation measures, including: (1) preservation of all old-growth timber on more than 1 million acres of federal land; (2) creation or expansion of three wilderness areas totaling more than 90,000 acres; and (3) addition of more than 150 miles of stream corridors to protections under Wild and Scenic Rivers legislation. The portion of the land made available for sustained-yield timber production would be limited primarily to those stands previously harvested and now dominated by the youngest classes of timber. One-half of that harvestable acreage would have to be managed so the timber would be 100-120 years old before harvest -- more than double the normal commercial harvest age -- providing an additional half-million acres of habitat for wildlife that prefers older timber, on top of all the protected stands of old growth. The Clean Water Act and other environmental laws would apply, with management by a board of trustees appointed by the governor.
On the economic side of the ledger, results would be just as impressive. Instead of mills closing and being torn down, as has been occurring for two decades, mill owners would have assurances of a sufficiently stable timber supply to justify investments in new plants and equipment. Export of logs would be prohibited, assuring the timber supply would stay right here at home as raw material to support manufacturing and other jobs. Small businesses, the engines of job growth, would receive guaranteed access to a portion of the supply. Economists predict as many as 12,000 new jobs, not counting additional thousands of contract jobs in the woods, and not counting thousands more jobs in county government saved by the revenues that would continue to be available to pay for county services, even though the federal safety net has come to an end. Those jobs would jump-start a revival of local economies perennially plagued by rampant unemployment.
County governments are teetering on the brink of economic disaster. Unless dramatic steps are taken soon, county finances will start to topple like dominos, first Curry County and, eventually, Lane, Klamath, Josephine, Coos, Douglas and others. Some counties you might not expect will be very seriously hurt -- Polk and Columbia counties, for example, depend on O&C monies for large parts of budgets that fund public safety and other essential services. And if the counties' finances fold, the state of Oregon will have to pick up the tab to avoid chaos, and that burden on the state will be at the expense of every program and every citizen, statewide.
We all have a stake in the success of the proposal championed by DeFazio, Walden and Schrader. The 11-member board of directors of the Association of O&C Counties unanimously supports the proposal and asks all Oregonians to do the same.
Doug Robertson, a Douglas County commissioner, is president of the Association of O&C Counties. Tony Hyde, a Columbia County commissioner, is vice president.
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