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

 

 

Counties Win Big

Counties Win Big

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.

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.

Let’s Talk Timber, Madame Governor!!!

Following President Barack Obama’s visit to Oregon last week, the Salem Statesman Journal published a letter to the President: Let's talk timber, Mr. President.

In the letter/editorial, the newspaper thanks the President for talking up Salem-based Oregon fruit products. However, the letter notes, “there's an even more important issue that cries for your help: increasing timber harvests on federal lands.”

Me, Too!

The same plea could be addressed to Governor Kate Brown for increasing timber harvests on State Forest land. Previously, the House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources considered, House Bill 3210. HB3210 was a bill that increased timber production on the Tillamook and Clatsop State Forests.

The Council of Forest Land Trust Counties in Northwest Oregon supported modifications to the original bill. The counties, who were the original owners of the forestland, sought to increase sustainable timber harvests from the State Forests.

The counties and several House Ag and Natural Resources Committee members are frustrated with the length of time it has taken the Board of Forestry and the Department of Forestry to craft a new plan that increases timber sales.

Died too soon…

As the Committee prepared to adopt the counties’ proposal, Chairman Rep. Brad Witt announced that he was pulling HB 3210 due to a letter he received from Board of Forestry Chair Tom Imeson and State Forester Doug Decker. The letter promised to keep the forest plan changes on a fast track.

Meanwhile, the counties are suffering financially from dwindling federal and state timber revenue. In fact, the Department of Forestry is seeking to replace timber receipts with scarce money from Oregon’s General Fund.

All State Forests

Northwest Oregon isn’t the only place the Governor could increase revenue from improved forest management. The State Land Board, Chaired by Governor Brown has over 80,000 acres of very productive forestland on the Elliott State Forest. These Common School Fund trust lands have seen a sharp decline in timber production following the settlement of an Endangered Species Act lawsuit filed by environemntalists upset with the new forest management plan to manage the ESF.

Madame Governor, it is not just the US Forest Service’s National Forests and the USDI Bureau of Land Management’s Oregon & California trust lands that need the President’s attention. State Forests in northwest and southwest Oregon could help produce County revenue, School funds and most importantly jobs!  Act now, while the 2015 legislature is still in session!!!

Oregon House Committee gets Forestry’s attention

Oregon House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee Chair Rep. Brad Witt, D-Clatskanie, withdrew HB 3210 after he reported that he received a letter from Board of Forestry Chair Tom Imeson and State Forester Doug Decker. Imeson and Decker’s letter indicates that they received the message HB3210 and proposed amendments were seeking.

Their letter promises to expedite the process of developing a new plan for the State Forests based on the recommendations of a BOF subcommittee recommendation to change the previous Structure Based Management to a new 70-30 strategy.

Under the new 70-30 plan, 70% of the forests would be managed with a timber prominence and 30% with a conservation emphasis. The new strategy is expected to both increase timber production and better address water quality and wildlife habitat concerns.

Previously, Rep. Witt and several of his committee members expressed frustration over the length of time it was taking for the BOF and the Forestry Department to design a new management plan for the state forests in Northwest Oregon.

Timber harvest receipts have been dropping for several years. Counties receiving revenues from State Forest timber sales have been at the front, along with State Forest timber sale purchasers, advocating for increased timber sales from the forest plan that has never produced the volumes expected when it was developed over a decade ago.

Meanwhile, the Forestry Department is seeking General Fund dollars for their operating expenses to replace the dwindling timber receipts. The trust counties, a different group than Oregon’s O&C Counties, long ago agreed to share the timber receipts to cover the Forestry Department’s management costs.