Final chapter written for the Elliott

 Final chapter written for the Elliott

 

The State Land Board, SLB, on December 13, 2022, formally put an end to the once great Elliott State Forest. Now the Elliott formally becomes the Elliott State Research Forest, ESRF, co-owned by a new government entity and Oregon State University.

 

Governor Kate Brown, Treasurer Tobias Read and Secretary of State Shemia Fagan, who make up the current SLB, officially decoupled the Elliott from its 90-year obligation to the Common School Fund. No longer will there be a mandate on managing the Elliott for schools with the payment of $221 million from Oregon taxpayers to compensate the CSF.

 

This ends a long and sordid history of the Elliott that was prompted by environmentalists’ lawsuits challenging timber sales that were purported to be in habitat of Marbled Murrelets. The seabird can fly from the ocean inland for 60 miles to find an appropriate nest tree. However, advocates deemed that flying over a small timber harvest would doom the bird to extinction.

 

Rather than challenge the legal and factual basis of the suit, the State of Oregon, under the direction from Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, surrendered all future management opportunity for the Elliott and paid the plaintiffs nearly $400,000 in attorneys’ fees.

 

This lack of a strong legal defense led to several proposals for the future of the Elliott, including selling the 80,000-acre forest to a local forest management company. Governor Brown and Treasurer Read wilted in the face of the outcry from preservationists so the sale was pulled, and new options were sought.

 

It was Read’s idea to give the Elliott to OSU. OSU balked at that idea when they realized the potential liability involved in owning a large block of forest land. A large stakeholder’s group and the Division of State Lands developed the notion of turning the Elliott into a research forest.

 

The 2022 legislature adopted laws that created the Elliott State Research Forest and created an entity to manage it in conjunction with OSU. They also appropriated $121 million to pay the balance owed the CSL.

 

The new statutes led to the SLB’s actions on December 13, 2022, thereby ending any requirement to manage the forest, although the new ESRF plans to sell limited timber sales to keep the forest afloat without the continual need for subsidies.

 

Don’t be surprised to see the preservationists throw a fit over any proposed timber harvesting. In other words, you haven’t heard the last of the Elliott…

Major change coming for the 90-year-old Elliott State Forest

 

The Oregon legislature, on the first day of the 35-day short session, heard testimony on Senate Bill 1546-1 a bill to convert the Elliott State Forest into the Elliott State Research Forest. The ESRF would be managed by a new state entity, with ties to Oregon State University. OSU previously turned down the offer from the State Land Board to own the ESF 

 

The ESRF would also be de-coupled with the Common School Fund that was supported by timber revenues since the ESF was established in in 1930 as Oregon’s first State Forest. Governor Kate Brown has designated $127 million to compensate the CSF. Fortunately, Oregon is flush with billions of dollars from federal pandemic relief and unexpected tax revenue due to Oregon’s strong economy.

 

The new ESRF Board of Directors and Executive Director will oversee the 84,000-acre forest that will be, by far, the world’s largest research forest. SB 1546 will need to move rapidly through the legislative process due to the tight timelines for the session. A public hearing on the bill will be held virtually on February 3^rd. 

 

The long sordid history for the ESF is entering a new phase. The ESF was once the quintessential multiple use managed forest producing upwards of 50 Million Board Feet per year while providing a verdant scenic and recreational spot amongst the most productive Douglas fir forestland in the world.

 

Now, after a new Forest Management Plan and Federally approved Habitat Conservation Plan, the ESRF is expected to produce timber harvests of 17 MMBF/year. The multi-party committee that developed the concept to turn the ESF into a research forest anticipated limited timber harvests as part of the research. It will be interesting to see if these science-based timber harvests are challenged by folks who can’t accept that proper forest management requires periodic harvests.

 

Here are links to supporting documents from the legislative hearing on February 1, 2022:

State Land Board Letter

ESRF Advisory Committee Letter 

OSU’s ESRF Proposal

 

OSU Dean Weighs in on Elliott State Research Forest

 Oregon State University School of Forestry Dean Tom DeLuca recently weighed in on the Elliott State Forest with and opinion piece in The Oregonian.

Elliott Saga Continues

Elliott Saga Continues

State Treasurer Tobias Read’s 2019 idea to turn the Elliott State Forest over to Oregon State University for a research forest has hit numerous roadblocks, none bigger than OSU deciding that the risks of ownership due to expected legal challenges over any timber harvests are too great. Read is now running for Governor and would like to see his idea go forward.

 

A Department of State Lands Advisory Committee, made up of stakeholders, OSU and DSL representatives has been overseeing a process that would keep the ESRF in public hands. The Committee is now developing Legislative Concepts for the February 2022 short legislative session. Legislation is needed to create an entity that governs the Elliott State Research Forest, where OSU will conduct the research on the massive 84,000 acre forest.

 

Still to be determined is where or how  the $121 million will come from to decouple the ESRF from its Constitutional tie to the Common School Fund. Also, the Committee decided a new appraisal would be timely. Since timber values have increased dramatically since the Pandemic it’s likely the price tag will increase.

 

DSL is overseeing the development of an Endangered Species ACT Habitat Conservation Plan for the Elliott that will determine the allowable timber sale quantity. Previous attempts by the Department of Forestry to develop an HCP failed to get Federal Agency buy-in during both Republican and Democratic Administrations. Good luck this time.

 

The ESRF will need to generate funds for research projects, road maintenance and fire protection. Not to mention maintaining public access to the forest.

 

Likely next steps include approval of legislative concepts for creating the ESRF and a governing body for this new public entity. Just as important is securing $121 million. Stay tuned.

 

The Elliott State Forest is a step closer to becoming an 80,000-acre research forest after the State Land Board voted in favor of Oregon State University’s proposal.

 

Controversial forestry experiment will be largest-ever in United States

 

 

Elliott State Forest – Who would believe this???

Elliott State Forest – Who would believe this???

The Elliott State Forest in Southwestern Oregon is a sad reminder of how far off center public forest management has become. The Elliott, once the quintessential managed forest boasting spectacular, rugged scenery and home to a world class Douglas fir forest, is now destined to be mired in bureaucratic gridlock as elected officials have punted on a rational solution to this unique forest.

Previously, the Elliott provided millions of dollars to Oregon’s Common School Fund while generating a once reliable supply of timber for local forest product manufacturers and loggers. This resulted in thousands of family-wage local jobs.

The Perfect Storm of environmentalist litigation, bureaucratic incompetence and timid elected officials led to the current situation that has the State of Oregon selling $100 million in bonds to pay for half the value of the Elliott to the Common School Fund.

Meanwhile, the State Land Board, the Constitutional manager of the Elliott, has retained the Department of Forestry, ODF, to negotiate a Habitat Conservation Plan, HCP, with the US Fish & Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service. Wait, isn’t that how we got here?

ODF spent ten years in a failed try to negotiate an HCP with the Federal agencies. The futile effort led the SLB of John Kitzhaber, Kate Brown and Ted Wheeler to give up on the effort and adopt a modified Endangered Species Act strategy which led to litigation. The Department of Justice surrendered without a fight and paid the environmental non-profits $400,000.

The lack of timber revenue led to a failed attempt to sell the Elliott in order to meet their responsibilities to the CSF by the Kitzhaber-Brown-Wheeler SLB. Governor Kate Brown and new Treasurer Tobias Read flipped flopped over and over enough to torpedo the sale to Lone Rock Resources the only bidder for the $220.8 million Elliott.

Now we have Oregon spending twice as much in bonds to pay the CSF for half of the Elliott, all the while for a forest it already owns. It is only believable if own has witnessed the decades of twists and turns over the Elliott.

Let’s not forget that the Oregon State University School of Forestry is trying to raise $120 million to pay for the balance of the Elliott. Forestry Dean Thomas Maness wants to turn the once hard-working Elliott into a research/experimental forest to explore forest management and endangered species relationships.

Meanwhile, the CSF is on the hook for the forest and road management costs and fire protection assessments as ODF again tries to negotiate and implement an HCP. As we have seen for the past 25 years, nothing with the Elliott happens quickly. Stay tuned.

State Land Board's decision on Elliott Forest a disappointment

It's unanimous: Elliott State Forest will remain publicly owned

Oregon School Boards Threaten Lawsuit Over Elliott State Forest Revenue

Timber company sues state agency over Elliott State Forest deal

Lawmakers back $100 million for Elliott State Forest, $50 million for UO campus

Oregon State Land Board: Elliott State Forest to stay public

State Land Board: Delaying the inevitable?

Delaying the inevitable?

The State Land Board has delayed their decision on the proposed sale of the Elliott State Forest to Lone Rock Resources and two American Indian Tribes from April to May.  The delay allows Governor Kate Brown who was outvoted when new State Treasurer Tobias Read proposed amending the pending sale agreement to buy back $25 million worth of special recreational or environmental acres. New Secretary of State Dennis Richardson joined Read in supporting the sale.

Brown is trying to use $100 million in bonds to pay the Common School Fund for the Elliot, which Oregon already owns. That is less than half of the $220.8 million Lone Rock is willing to pay. The legislature would have to approve both Brown’s $100 million and Read’s $25 million. This is problematic since there is currently a $1.6 billion hole in the budget.

The Governor has enlisted the help of the Department of Forestry, ODF, to develop an option for the state to maintain the Elliott. ODF has managed the Elliott on behalf of the SLB since the Elliott became Oregon’s first State Forest in the 1930s. Funding for ODF’s management of the Elliott runs out on June 30^th of this year.

In anticipation of not having the sale finalized and needing someone to care for the Elliott, the Department of State lands has issued a Request For Proposal for an interim manager of the forest. Yet another strange twist in the Elliott saga…

If the Governor is successful in rounding up $100 million, she still needs one more vote from the three-member board. Read has been under tremendous pressure from shocked environmentalists to change his position. Old time environmental advocates have come in from the hinter lands and have been seen in the Capitol Lobbying Read.

Read has proclaimed his responsibility is to Oregon’s school children to protect the value of the Common School Fund asset. John Charles, longtime follower of the Elliott, and President and CEO of Cascade Policy Institute also calls for selling the Elliott in a recent OpEd. Charles pegged the value of the Elliott at $850 million in 1995. The current appraised value of $220.8 million reflects the restrictions the SLB has placed on the Elliott.

New Members Overrule Governor

New Members Overrule Governor

The two new members of the State Land Board voted to move forward with the sale of the Elliott State Forest in SW Oregon. Secretary of State Dennis Richardson and State Treasurer Tobias Read Outvoted Governor Kate Brown in accepting Read’s motion to proceed forward with three amendments. Brown, clearly upset, directed the Department of State Lands to prepare an alternative to keep the Elliott in state ownership.

The SLB decision means that the $220.8 million sale to Lone Rock Timber Management Co., the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Indians and the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siskiyou Indians will proceed with the new conditions proposed by Treasurer Read.

The 84,000 acre Elliott State Forest has been the center of controversy following the adoption of a new land management plan in 2012. The SLB decided to sell the Elliott when it began costing the Common School Fund millions of dollars to maintain ownership of the forest. School interests, including school administrators and teachers. support selling the forest.

Fifty entities expressed interest in buying the Elliott. However, in 2016 Lone Rock and the two tribes were the only bidders.  Read called for using $25 million in bonding to buy back special conservation and recreation areas of the Elliott, adopting Forest Stewardship Council management prescriptions for parts of the Elliott with 250-year-old trees and allowing five Indian Tribes the first right of refusal should Lone Rock decide to sell any part of the Elliott.

What happens next is unclear. The SLB meets again in April. The legislature needs to approve the $25 million in bonding. Lone Rock needs to decide if the amendments that Read proposed are acceptable to them to move forward. Governor Brown will spend the next couple of months trying to undo the SLB action and keep the Elliott in state ownership.

Stay tuned.

Oregon takes big step toward privatizing Elliott State Forest

Land board votes to sell Elliott State Forest, but decision not final

State Land Board votes to move forward on sale of Elliott State Forest

State Land Board approves sale of Elliott State Forest