What will Governor Kate Brown do with Natural Resources?

What will Governor Brown do with Natural Resources?

The frantic early days of her reign as governor addressed legislative Democratic leaders’ and Governor Brown’s top priorities. Will the Brown administration now continue the work of John Kitzhaber’s administration with regard to O & C forestland legislation, addressing forest health on the National Forest Lands of Eastern Oregon and magically coming up with timber supply to save failing mills in Cave Junction and John Day?

Governor Brown has a great compassion for distressed rural communities. It will be incumbent on timber industry advocates to help generate enthusiasm in the Governor and her office to address both State and Federal forest issues. In fact, most of Kitzhaber’s Natural Resources team is still working for Brown.

It is timely for Governor Brown and her team to step into forest matters. The State Land Board, (Governor Brown, Treasure Wheeler and Secretary of State Atkins) is considering how to deal with the embattled Elliott State Forest, and the Board of Forestry seeks to redo the land management plan for the Northwest State Forests to avert a financial crisis due to the low harvest levels from this highly productive forest land.

On the federal side, Kitzhaber established a broad based stakeholder group to devise a strategy for the 2.4 million acres of forestland in Western Oregon. Unfortunately, Sen. Wyden wasn’t willing to accept Governor Kitzhaber’s two key requirements for any O & C solution: final harvest prescriptions for Southern Oregon and legal certainty for the entire plan.

However, the last Congress rejected Wyden’s O & C Bill so Wyden may be more inclined to embrace the Kitzhaber proposal, which is similar to the bill passed by Congressmen Walden, DeFazio and Schrader.

Leaders Offer Oregon Loggers Encouraging Words

Newly elected officials, Speaker of the House, Rep. Bruce Hanna, R-Roseburg, and State Treasurer Ted Wheeler, D-Portland, had encouraging words for Oregon’s independent loggers at Associated Oregon Loggers 41^st Annual Meeting in Eugene over the weekend.

Treasurer Wheeler addressed more than 400 attendees on Friday, January 15.  Wheeler is part of the State Land Board along with the Secretary of State Kate Brown and Governor John Kitzhaber.  The SLB oversees Southern Oregon’s Elliott State Forest for the Common School Fund. 

Financially, the Elliott State Forest is the SLB’s poorest performing asset.  Previously, the Elliott used to be the quintessential model for sustained-yield forest management, while still being a popular destination for a wide array of forest recreation activities.  The timber produced on the Elliott commanded a high price from Oregon’s timber industry.  Since 1995, the Elliott has been managed under an ultra-conservative strategy that has reduced timber output by 60%.

Wheeler spoke forcefully about getting more money from the Elliott for financially strapped public schools.  State foresters have spent 10 years trying to negotiate a more productive management plan with federal fish & wildlife officials.   The Treasurer called on his negotiating experience outside the forestry world to claim, “Negotiating for 10 years isn’t a negotiation…it is a Stalemate!!!”

Wheeler wants to get more money from the Elliott “because I am the Treasurer…not the Parks Commissioner!!!”  The overflow audience interrupted Wheeler three times with spontaneous applause.  Wheeler finished his comments with “You’ve got a friend in the Treasurer!”  Time will tell if this was an early campaign speech.

Saturday, Republican House Speaker Bruce Hanna, pleased the loggers with the message that Oregon’s budget problem is really a “Jobs problem!!!”  Hanna wants to adopt the Main Street Plan, job-creating legislation that Republicans developed in the 2009 legislature but failed to gain any traction from Democrats.  The evenly divided House (30-30) and the narrowly split Senate (16-14) offers Hanna hope that the Main Street Plan or similar legislation can be enacted in 2011.

Speaker Hanna is encouraged by Governor John Kitzhaber’s inclusiveness toward Hanna and other Republicans with his transition teams and has sought their “input and ideas”.  The Governor “has done everything he said” that he said he would.

Despite the lumber market sinking to levels not seen since the Great Depression, the over 900 members of AOL should be encouraged by the optimism provided by Treasurer Wheeler and Speaker Hanna.