Governor’s Office Describes an Oregon Solution for O & C Forests

Tom Tuchman, Governor John Kitzhaber’s Forestry & Conservation Finance Advisor, described an initiative for 2.6 million acres of federal forestland in Western Oregon to two legislative committees (House Agriculture & Natural Resources and Joint Task Force on County Payments) on September 13, 2012. 

The goal of this typical “John Kitzhaber” enterprise is to develop an Oregon Solution to break the gridlock that is leading many Western Oregon counties to insolvency and pushing unemployment rates upwards of 20%.  Kitzhaber has succeeded in developing Oregon Solutions that have led to federal Medicare and other Health Care waivers.  Kitzhaber exceeded expectations in getting buy-in from the federal bureaucracy.

Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-4^th Congressional District, Rep. Greg Walden, R-2^nd District, and Kurt Schrader, D-5^th District have spent months crafting compromise federal legislation that seeks to restore timber production from the O & C forest lands. 

Tuchman described a process aimed at enhancing the federal legislation by gaining support of the environmental community to go along with county and timber industry backing.  A joint Task Force will meet until the end of 2012 to develop an Oregon Solution that the new Congress can adopt in 2013.

Committee members peppered Tuchman with questions regarding specifics of this solution.  Tuchman declined to presuppose what the new Task Force will produce.  Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scappoose, and Rep. Mike Schaufler, D-Happy Valley, both wondered why the same type of resolution couldn’t also apply to Oregon’s State Forests.  Legislators have tried several times to increase timber harvests on Northwest Oregon State Forests only to be thwarted by first Governor Ted Kulongoski and then Governor Kitzhaber.

During the Joint Task Force on County Payments hearing a parade of state agency leaders who describe all of the services the state will have to assume when counties are no longer solvent.  Not just high profile law enforcement and criminal retention, but other more mundane services like unemployment insurance or the issuance of building permits.

Nearly 15 years of declining federal welfare payments intended to make up for the lack of timber revenue have postponed the inevitable county funding crisis that the timber industry predicted when President Clinton’s Northwest Forest Plan was adopted in the mid 1990s.

The Steps Toward a Better Oregon Economy

Rep. Mike Schaufler  from NFIB Oregon

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In the first of a series of guest editorials by Oregon lawmakers, state Representative Mike Schaufler offers some suggestions on how to get Oregon's economy back on track. Schaufler was chairman of the Business and Labor Committee of the House of Representatives in the last session of Legislature. 

Oregon is still in the deepest recession since the Great Depression. Over the past two years or so, I’ve been asked by thousands of Oregonians what state government is going to do about it. The 2009-10 Oregon Legislature took three actions that I think will help. In 2009 bills were passed:

• to upgrade Oregon’s transportation infrastructure
• provide and make accessible health insurance to every child and tens of thousands of low-income adults
• and invest in low-income housing.

What we did not do is spend, cut or tax Oregon out of this recession. The 2011-13 Legislature will not spend, cut or tax Oregon out of this recession either. Like always, Oregon will have to work its way out of recession.

How will we do that?

• Oregon needs policies that recognize and take advantage of our abundant and sustainable natural resources. We must take far greater advantage of the army of working families who know how to responsibly and sustainably manage these resources as well.
• Oregon needs to get back in the forest. Trees grow faster and better in Oregon than any where else in the world. Oregon forestry workers and Oregon woodland owners know how to manage our forests better than any one else in the world, (including the federal government). Oregon needs to invest in woody biomass for energy and be prepared to crank up our lumber mills when America’s economy improves.
• Oregon needs to develop more water. With just one percent of the annual flow of the Columbia River, thousands of upper eastern Oregon acres could be irrigated. These irrigated acres would not only increase yield but would allow for much more diversity in what crops could be grown. Oregonians want to buy Oregon produce. Greater and more diverse production would greatly increase the need for food processing and create thousands of jobs in rural Oregon.
• Oregon needs more flexible land use laws for industry. Getting large industrial projects to pick Oregon requires one hundred acre plots of shovel-ready land to build on. Oregon needs to streamline its permit process as well. All building permits should be granted or refused in twelve months. Anything longer than that isn’t process. It’s denial.

These are just some ideas. I do not take personal credit for any of them. I do very much support all of them completely and unequivocally. These are large-scale concepts. The positive impact would be felt through out the economy. The demand for goods and services provided by small business, as a result, would increase exponentially. 

Communities benefiting from these proposals would see a marked increase in the demand for machinery, fuel, groceries, cars and pickups, flowers, fencing, flagpoles, furnaces, flat work and an exhaustive list of goods and services.

Last of all, Oregon needs you. I encourage every NFIB member reading these words to be in contact with your state legislators and governor. Oregon is a great place to live. We must have a sustainable economy and sustainable environment. Get involved.