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.

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.

Oregon Completes Controversial Sales Of State-Owned Coastal Forestlands

Oregon Completes Controversial Sales Of State-Owned Coastal Forestlands

June 12, 2014 | OPB

CONTRIBUTED BY:

DEVAN SCHWART

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• The controversy over the sales of forestlands to private timber companies centers on the marbled murrelet.credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• The controversy over the sales of forestlands to private timber companies centers on the marbled murrelet.credit: Sierra Club

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The controversy over the sales of forestlands to private timber companies centers on the marbled murrelet. | credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service | rollover image for more

The state of Oregon has completed the sales of three parcels of public forestland to private timber companies.

The finalized sales of 1,453 acres from a coastal state forest were announced Thursday by the Oregon Department of State Lands. The agency says it netted and about $4.2 million through the transaction.

A lack of revenues from the Elliott State Forest were cited as the main reason for the sale. The state’s Common School Fund relies on revenues generated from state-owned lands.

Conservation groups are seeking to block one of the Elliott sales in state court, and to prevent logging on the other two in federal court.

Cascadia Wildlands, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Audubon Society of Portland have filed a lawsuit to prevent the sale of the East Hakki Ridge parcel based on a state law that says lands formerly part of the national forest system cannot be sold to private owners. It was formerly within Siuslaw National Forest.

The same groups filed a notice of intent to sue to prevent the taking of federally protected seabirds called marbled murrelets on the other two parcels (Benson Ridge and Adams Ridge 1). The birds are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Cascadia Wildlands campaign director Josh Laughlin said the groups will wait until the timber companies harvest timber and then sue under the Endangered Species Act, given surveys confirming marbled murrelets in the forest.

“It’s critical that the laws are followed and upheld and the species is protected as outlined by the law,” Laughlin said.

He added that Oregon cancelled timber sales on the Elliott in 2012 when presented with similar evidence of the federally protected birds.

Julie Curtis with the Department of State Lands says the Endangered Species Act will still be observed on private lands.

“The companies that purchased the land are certainly well aware of what they need to do to comply with the law regarding the protection of endangered species,” Curtis said.

An additional 1,250 acres are expected to be sold off in the fall from the Elliott State Forest, which is in Southern Oregon’s Coast Range.

© 2014 OPB