Land Board Bails on Elliott Solution

Land Board Bails on Elliott Solution

The long-running saga of the Elliott State Forest in Southwestern Oregon has just been extended for an unknowable length by the State Land Board. The SLB, made up of Governor Kate Brown, State Treasurer Ted Wheeler and Secretary of State Jeanne Atkins, rejected a comprehensive plan from Lone Rock Timber Management Partners, the Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua Tribe of Indians and the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians.

At a packed hearing on December 13^th, school boards, school administrators and teachers all testified in support of the sale to Lone Rock and the Oregon Tribes. Evidently, the Governor and Treasurer were moved by the 80 people that demonstrated, begged and threatened the SLB to reject the sale and decouple the Elliott from the revenue mandate of the Common School Fund.

Previously, the SLB called for selling the Elliott to an entity that would protect the oldest forests, provide wide stream buffers, keep the forest open for recreation and produce 40 jobs. The August 2015 decision to sell came after failing to produce revenue and in fact costing the Common School Fund millions of dollars rather than producing revenue as it had since 1930.

Following prior SLB action to increase timber production from the Elliott, environmentalists sued to stop timber management in Marbled Murrelet habitat. Rather than fight the suit and continue to offer timber sales outside of Marble Murrelet habitat, the State surrendered without a trial and paid $400,000 in attorney fees.

Fifty entities had expressed interest in purchasing the Elliott. However, after the SLB set the no-bid purchase price at $220.8 million only Lone Rock and the Oregon Tribes were interested. Prior to the restrictions, the SLB placed on the future owner of the Elliott, experts estimated the Elliott’s value at more than $400 million.

Changes ahead for State Forests

Elliott State Forest

Bids are due next month for Southwestern Oregon’s Elliott State Forest (ESF). The Common School Fund forest will be given to a new entity for $220.8 million and promises to keep the forest open for recreation, provide wide stream buffers, preserve the oldest forests and provide 40 jobs per year.

The unique process was set in place by the State Land Board (SLB) over two years ago following millions of dollars in losses the State incurred trying to manage the ESF in the face of a lawsuit over protection for the Marbled Murrelet. John Charles, president and CEO of the Portland-based Cascade Policy Institute, has maintained for over a decade that the ESF should be sold to the highest bidder.

The price for the ESF is set in stone after the SLB spent over $1 million on determining the value of the ESF. Timber experts were shocked at the low $220.8 million value. Others had previously pegged the ESF’s value at over $800 million.

NW Oregon Forests

Things may not be any better for the State Forests in Northwest Oregon. Linn County has filed a $1.4 billion lawsuit against Oregon for breach of contract after timber revenues have dwindled over the past 15 years. The Class Action suit heads to trial in 2017.

In the 1930s the Counties deeded the forests to the State following massive tax delinquencies. In exchange, the State was to share the revenue from the management of the very productive forests.

The arrangement worked well until the Department of Forestry came up with new plans that reduced timber revenues for the Counties. The combination of declining receipts from federal and state forests have put rural counties in an economic crisis. Linn County felt they had no choice but to turn to the courts. The timber industry, troubled by declining timber sales, has provided early funding for Linn County’s suit.

Proposals are due for the Elliott State Forest by November 15^th, the State Land Board will choose a successful owner in December. However, it will be sometime in 2017 before there is certainty over the future for the NW Oregon State Forests.

Eisenhower Was Right! Government Science is Killing Our Forests

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Government Science is Killing Our Forests By Bob Zybach PhD 

Eisenhower Was Right! Government Science is Killing Our Forests

Linn County plans class-action lawsuit against state

Linn County takes state forestland fight to court

Lawsuit could seek $1.4 billion in damages for breach of contract in the Oregon Forest Trust Lands program. 

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SALEM — Linn County plans to seek more than $1.4 billion in damages in a lawsuit against the state for breach of contract in management of forestland in 15 counties. 

Linn County special counsel delivered a letter to Gov. Kate Brown and State Forester Doug Decker Wednesday, Jan. 13, telling them of the county’s plan to file the suit after a mandatory 30-day waiting period. 

The governor's office has not commented on the lawsuit. 

Up to 150 local taxing districts that receive timber sales receipts from harvests from the Oregon Forest Trust Lands contract could be eligible to join the suit. That includes schools, libraries, public safety agencies and other districts. 

Other counties that benefit from the trust are Benton, Clackamas, Clatsop, Columbia, Coos, Douglas, Josephine, Klamath, Lane, Lincoln, Marion, Polk, Tillamook, and Washington.  

A judge would have to approve class-action status of the lawsuit. 

“There have been general discussions and angst for years about the distribution formula and how counties have been deprived of revenue by state,” said Portland attorney John DiLorenzo, who represents Linn County in the suit. “It’s no surprise they’re not getting as much of a return from the arrangement as they should be.” 

The 15 counties have contracted with the state since the 1930s to manage forestlands for the land’s “greatest permanent value.” Linn County and the state are at odds over the meaning of that term. The county claims that the term means greatest economic value allowable under state and federal regulations and that returns ought to match what a private land manager could glean off the land. In 1998, the state defined the term to mean economic, ecological, recreational and aesthetic returns and implemented a management plan based on that definition starting in 2000, DiLorenzo said. 

Linn County estimates that the 150 local districts in the 15 counties have missed out on $35 million per year in revenue in the past 15 years from the state’s management of the forestland. That number is based on forest modeling, much of which was borrowed from the Department of Forestry, DiLorenzo said. 

“All of those local districts are in need of funding especially in the area of public safety,” he said. “Lives would be vastly improved if these monies were distributed to these districts.” 

DiLorenzo and Linn County Commissioner Roger Nyquist declined to specify whether the county first approached DiLorenzo’s law firm, Davis Wright Tremaine, or whether the law firm approached the county to propose the class action suit. 

DiLorenzo said the lawsuit was “one of those perfect storms when everything came together.” He said he had been watching how the state had been managing the forestland. Meanwhile, timber counties had expressed growing contention over the state’s performance. 

By Paris Achen
Portland Tribune Capital Bureau Reporter
503-385-4899
email: pachen@portlandtribune.com
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