State Officials hoping for magic

State Officials hoping for magic

Oregon’s State Land Board, Governor Kate Brown, Treasurer Ted Wheeler and Secretary of State Jeanne Atkins, are counting on a collective agreement amongst timber management interests, anti-logging groups, recreation supporters and community backers.

Pot of Gold becomes drain

The State Land Board can no longer meet their fiduciary responsibility to produce revenue for the Common School Fund from the Elliott State Forest. In fact, in 2013, the Elliott cost the CSF over $3 Million for the privilege of owning this once valuable forestland.

For decades, the Elliott provided millions of dollars in timber receipts to K-12 education in Oregon. Now the SLB is looking to sell or transfer the Elliott to a new entity that one way or another finds peace amongst radicals who don’t support any timber harvest, community supporters and school backers.

That new body could be none other than the State of Oregon. Magic would be necessary if a State agency is selected as the new owner/custodian of the Elliott, since Oregon already owns the Elliott.  Magically transferring the Common School Fund trust obligations away from the Department of State Lands to a different branch of government would make Alice in Wonderland come to life.

So sad…

Giving up on traditional forest management for the Elliott is a sad conclusion for what was once the quintessential managed forest. The Elliott came to life following a massive forest fire in the 1860’s.

A recent study by former Oregon State University Professor Dr. John Session found that the Elliott could produce 60-75 Million Board Feet/year forever. Now, the economic goal for the Elliott is to produce enough timber for 40 jobs, less than 5 MBF/year.

No speedy resolution

The Elliott will remain in Oregon’s front position as the route for legally and financially transferring the Elliott will have to plow uncharted w

aters.  Meanwhile, the trees keep growing, water keeps flowing and the local economy continues to reel.

Only in Oregon…

Oregon land board, holding out hope for conservation, will seek buyer for Elliott State Forest

Oregon Starts Search For Elliott State Forest Buyer

State Land Board votes to support ownership transfer of the Elliott State Forest

$5 Million Endowed Chair for Oregon State University College of Forestry

From OSU
CORVALLIS, Ore. – A $5 million commitment from the head of Roseburg Forest Products and his wife has created an endowment for the College of Forestry dean’s position at Oregon State University.
Named in honor of the donors, the Cheryl Ramberg and Allyn C. Ford Deanship of Forestry will be held by Hal Salwasser.

“For more than a century, the College of Forestry has been at the forefront of OSU’s efforts to produce research and graduates that enhance the state of Oregon,” said OSU President Ed Ray. “Today it is considered among the best forestry programs in the world, and it is a critical part of the university’s focus on sustainable earth ecosystems and economic growth.

“This visionary gift from Allyn and Cheryl Ford illustrates that in tough economic times smart people redouble efforts to preserve the path to excellence,” Ray said. “Their investment assures that the college will have outstanding leadership for the next century and beyond.”

A member of the college’s board of visitors, Allyn Ford became president and CEO of Roseburg Forest Products in 1997. The company was founded by his father, Ken Ford, in 1936 and is now one of the largest family-held wood products corporations in the United States, and among the nation’s largest timberland owners.

“At Roseburg Forest Products we have seen very clearly how important the College of Forestry is for the future of our industry,” Ford said. “Faculty research and innovation help us stay competitive in the global marketplace. It’s also essential that the college continue to provide the industry with graduates who understand these complex systems. We need leaders who can offer sustainable solutions that support the future health of our state and our world.”

A native of southern Oregon and secretary for the Ramberg Glass Company board in Roseburg, Cheryl Ramberg-Ford is a University of Oregon Foundation trustee and former president of the UO Alumni Association. She serves on the boards of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art and Wildlife Safari and is a member of the Tree of Hope Committee for Mercy Medical Center in Roseburg, Ore. Allyn Ford serves on the Oregon State Board of Higher Education, is a director of the Doernbecher Hospital Foundation and the World Forestry Center, and chairs the board of Umpqua Bank.

“This is a family that is profoundly committed to the state of Oregon and to higher education,” said Mike Goodwin, president and CEO of the OSU Foundation. “We are deeply grateful for the Fords’ support as OSU advances to the next level as a major international research university.”

The Ford family has a long history with Oregon State University.

Allyn’s sister, Carmen Ford Phillips, is an OSU alumna who has been actively engaged with her alma mater for many years. A gift from Allyn’s and Carmen’s late mother made possible the construction of the Hallie Ford Center for Healthy Children and Families – named in her honor – which celebrated its grand opening on Sept. 8. Allyn and Cheryl Ford are both highly involved with the Ford Family Foundation, which helps to fund OSU programs and outreach in the College of Public Health and Human Sciences. At any one time the foundation also provides scholarship support for more than 500 students in Oregon post-secondary schools.

“The Ford family and Roseburg Forest Products are deeply rooted in rural Oregon and they have had a tremendous impact on rural communities,” said OSU Provost and Executive Vice President Sabah Randhawa. “This deanship gift extends that legacy in a powerful way. Supporting College of Forestry leadership is a long-term investment not only in sustainable forests but in sustainable rural communities.”

Building on his predecessors’ legacy, Salwasser has led OSU’s nationally ranked College of Forestry for 12 years. The college has been ranked the number one forest resources research program in North America and the number one forest ecology program. It encompasses three departments, about 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students, and 14,000 acres of college forests.

Salwasser is also executive dean of OSU’s Division of Earth Systems Science, which includes the colleges of forestry, agricultural sciences, and oceanic and atmospheric sciences. Prior to his arrival at OSU in 2000, Salwasser held numerous positions with the U.S. Forest Service. He holds a doctorate in wildland resource science from the University of California, Berkeley.

In honoring Salwasser as the inaugural holder of the endowed deanship, university officials also announced today that Salwasser will step down from the position at the end of the 2011-12 academic year.

“OSU has one of the finest forestry educational and research programs in the nation, a program that Oregon needs to build both a healthy economy and a healthy natural resource base,” Randhawa said.

“No one has understood these multiple demands better than Dr. Salwasser,” he said. “We’re grateful for his work, his leadership in the College of Forestry to align academic programs with needs of industry and society, and his efforts to increase collaboration across colleges in his role as executive dean of the Division of Earth Systems Science. The new endowment is a fitting capstone to his achievements and will ensure that we are able to recruit a leader of similar caliber to help write the next chapter of the college’s distinguished history.”

The gift is part of The Campaign for OSU, the university’s first comprehensive fundraising effort. Guided by OSU’s strategic plan, the campaign seeks $850 million to provide opportunities for students, strengthen the Oregon economy and conduct research that changes the world. Approximately $743 million has been committed to date, including more than $74 million toward a $97 million goal for endowed positions and other faculty support. Since 2004, campaign donors have doubled the number of endowed faculty positions at OSU.

The Fords’ gift leveraged the OSU Provost’s Faculty Match Program, an initiative designed to encourage donor investments in endowed faculty positions. Over five years the match on the Fords’ gift will provide an additional $450,000 for College of Forestry programs.

This is the third endowed deanship of OSU's 12 colleges, following established endowments in the colleges of business and veterinary medicine.

Study of logging's impact on Oregon streams shows no water temperature increase on state forest lands, slight increase on private timber

By Eric Mortenson, The Oregonian 

Published: Wednesday, September 21, 2011, 2:49 PM     Updated: Wednesday, September 21, 2011, 3:22 PM

View full size 

The Oregonian/fileCattle grazing on Forest Service land tromp through Camp Creek, a John Day drainage stream full of steelhead trout. 

 

An on-going study of Oregon Coast Range streams before and after logging shows no average water temperature increase on state forest lands but a 1.3 degree increase on private land, according to an Oregon State University researcher.

The study involves 33 sites in the Coast Range. Water temperature was monitored for two years before harvest and for five years after logging. All of the monitored streams are fish-bearing; stream temperature is critical to cold-water fish such as trout and salmon.

Jeremy Groom, an OSU research associate and lead author of the report, said the study does not address whether the temperature increase on private land is significant. The state Department of Environmental Quality says logging and other forest management work should not increase stream temperatures by more than 0.5 degrees.

Research from previous decades, when loggers sometimes cut trees and burned slash to the edge of streams, showed water temperature increases ranging from 3 to 21 degrees.

Groom said the current results will be presented to the Oregon Board of Forestry in November. The board oversees application of the Oregon Forest Practices Act, which governs such things as buffers zones that must be left adjacent to streams when logging occurs.

State forest managers typically leave larger buffers than required by the forest practices act, and leave more standing timber than required, according to an OSU summary of the research.

While many private landowners follow similar practices, the study involved only those meeting the minimum requirements under the forest practices act. The research was intended to find out if those regulations are working.

"A big question is whether the temperature changes warrant any sort of rule changes," Groom said. "I supply (the board) with this information, but whether or not that's an important amount of temperature increase is not in my job description. I'm very curious to see what happens."

None of the studied sites is on federal national forest or Bureau of Land Management timber.

The research is a collaboration of OSU, the Oregon Department of Forestry, private industry and other state and federal agencies.

--Eric Mortenson