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…

Elliott State Forest-The Long and Sordid History

Elliott State Forest-The Long and Sordid History

The Elliott State Forest in Southwestern Oregon is an unbelievable example of poor public policy affecting forest management. The NW Timber Blog has reported on some of the trials and tribulations of this once proud bastion of forest management that benefited Oregon's Common School Fund and overseen by the State Land Board made up of the Governor, Secretary of State and Treasurer

The Elliott, once a great example of Multiple-Use Forestry that provided recreation, fish and wildlife habitat spectacular scenic beauty and millions of dollars in revenues for schools, is now a financial drag on the Common School Fund.

Chronology 

The State Land Board, SLB, Governor John Kitzhaber, Secretary of State Kate Brown and Treasurer Ted Wheeler increased the sustained yield timber harvest to 40 million board feet per year, significantly less than the 75 mmbf annual growth on the Elliott. The harvests benefit the Common School Fund, CSF.

·     Environmental groups protest the action and occupy offices of the Governor, Secretary of State and the Treasurer. Their attorneys file a lawsuit charging Endangered Species Act violations involving the Marbled Murrelet.

·     The State surrenders without challenging the case, stops all forest management and pays the litigants $400,000 for their attorney fees.

·     Without timber harvests, the Elliott was costing the Common School Fund $3 million/year in management costs including road maintenance and fire protection fees.

·     Kitzhaber, Brown and Wheeler decide that the only viable option to stem the loses to the CSF is to sell the Elliott.

·     After Kitzhaber resigns Brown is elevated to Governor. Brown and Wheeler maintain the process to sell the Elliott. Only one bid for $220.7million is submitted by a coalition of Indian Tribes and Lone Rock Timber Management Company in Roseburg.

·     SLB meetings are flooded with protests over the Elliott sale proposal. After two such meetings, Brown, Wheeler and SOS Jeanne Atkins change course and cancel the sale.

·     Kate Brown is reelected Governor, Ted Wheeler leaves to become Mayor of Portland and Dennis Richardson and Tobias Read replace them on the SLB.

·     After canceling the sale, Brown convinces the legislature to provide $100 million in bonds as partial repayment to the CSF, essentially to buy a forest Oregon already owns. 

·     Treasurer Read’s plan to turn the Elliott over to the School of Forestry at Oregon State

      University as a 84,000 acre research forest still needs $120.7 million to make the CSF whole.

·     Today, the SLB staff and OSU are conducting public meetings in preparation for finalizing a plan to present to the SLB in December 2019.

Meanwhile Dr. Bob Zybach has been working with longtime Elliott Managing Forester Jerry Phillips and Southwestern Oregon Community College to develop an educational/recreation plan for the Elliott. The proposal is here.

More Elliott information:

Let’s Talk Timber, Madame Governor!!!

Two bills plot starkly different courses for Elliott State Forest

State Officials hoping for magic

Land Board Bails on Elliott Solution

New Members Overrule Governor