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.

Scandinavian model of sustainable, productive forestry could happen here

Published: Tuesday, March 27, 2012, 8:00 AM

 By By Ken Swanson

Environmentalists' hypersensitivity to modern productive forestry practices is a legacy of a bygone era of forest exploitation in the northwestern United States. Is this hypersensitivity understandable? Of course. Is it sensible in a more modern environment of highly regulated, sustainable harvesting and regeneration practices employed in other parts of the world that have been demonstrated to be successful and can easily be employed in Oregon? Probably not. 

Case in point: Sweden. Roughly the size of California, Sweden is 70 percent forested. About 50 percent of Sweden is actively managed, productive forest. This includes national, county and municipal land holdings as well as private holdings. Harvesting of forest resources in Sweden is as common as farming in the Willamette Valley. 

Forestry practices in Sweden are highly regulated and strictly enforced, and there is a long history of careful management dating back more than 100 years to when the first forestry regulations were enacted at the national level. Even with active management of productive forests on this scale, the Swedish standing timber inventory continues to increase, as it has for more than 50 years. This is worth repeating: Even with increases in forest production for five decades, the inventory of standing timber continues to expand in Sweden. 

Sweden is well beyond using timber for just lumber and paper; the country gets more than 35 percent of its total energy (including transport energy) from biomass resources, and most of that comes from the forest. In addition to heating most of a very cold country with biomass -- a country where temperatures are often well below freezing in the winter (as cold as 40 C below zero) -- Sweden is making world-leading advancements in the use of forest and agricultural biomass to replace fossil fuel-derived fibers, chemicals, liquid transport fuels, plastics and other compounds that are used in everyday life and in industrial applications. Remember, it is not just gasoline and diesel that we take from oil; there are many other items taken from oil refineries. 

Sweden decided 40 years ago that it had to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels because it had no native production. The country had become very dependent on imported oil for heating and electricity, and after the oil embargoes of the 1970s and given its climate, it could not afford to be at risk because of oil disruptions. Leaders looked, in part, to their massive forest resource for the answer to oil dependence. 

Forestry is so important to the Swedish economy now that more than one-quarter of all transport in Sweden is devoted to forestry and downstream industries. This on a scale of more than 9 million people and a state three times the size of Oregon. The economic impact of the forest and forest-related industries is massive, supplying hundreds of thousands of direct and indirect jobs. 

Is it any wonder that Sweden, of all the developed, industrialized countries in the world, has the healthiest national economy at the moment? It has enjoyed GDP growth for the past three years above 5.5 percent annually and has a shortage of skilled labor in many of its markets, while Oregon has been mired in high unemployment for the past three-plus years. Does it have to be this way in Oregon with its rich forest resource? 

There are such things as sustainable forest production practices, and there is movement toward the use of forest resources to help reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and thus reduce long-term fossil fuel emissions. This is being done successfully in Sweden, Finland, Austria, Germany, Italy and other states in the European Union. Certainly it can be done successfully in Oregon and to the benefit of all parts of a healthy, sustainable society. 

Ken Swanson is from Forest Grove and, after 23 years in the high-tech industry, has been living and working for seven years in northern Sweden. 

At the Capitol

Legislature Re-Starts

Oregon’s legislature returned to the Capitol February 1 to begin deliberations for the 76^th legislative session.  They previously met for three days in January to organize, elect leaders and introduce 1,600 bills.  Under a voter-approved referral, the legislature will meet annually with the 2011 session scheduled to end June 30, 2011.

Legislative hearings began on some of the thousands of bills and issues that have been or will be introduced under the tight deadlines to move the session along.  Observers noted that the first week felt like May proceedings of previous sessions.

After super-majorities of Democratic control in 2009, the 2011 legislature is much more evenly balanced with the Senate’s 16-14 Democratic majority and the House split evenly 30-30.  The House will operate under a first of its kind power-sharing agreement, with two Speakers, Representative Bruce Hanna, R-Roseburg, and Representative Arnie Roblan, D-Coos Bay.

Bruce Hanna and Arnie Roblan: The new buddy act running the Oregon House of Representatives

Governor Meets with Business Group

Governor John Kitzhaber set the tone for the legislative session by joining The Oregon Committee at their weekly meeting.  Kitzhaber spoke about the budget he released the day before.  The Oregon Committee is the coalition of businesses that began as a political committee and is now focused on policy matters for the legislative session.

Clearly, the Governor wants help from the business community to move his budget and the rest of his legislative agenda forward.  Kitzhaber, Version 1 & 2, and the business community frequently disagreed about issues.  These disagreements and Republican control of both the House and Senate led to the Governor earning the Dr. No moniker for the former Emergency Room Physician.

In response to a question, the Kitzhaber, Version 3, addressed timber and biomass issues.  See below link.

Governor Kitzhaber Talks Timber

Rubber will meet the Road

Despite the thousands of introduced bills, the 2011 session is going to be characterized by how the Governor and the legislature deal with the significant revenue shortfall for the 2011-2013 Biennium.

Kitzhaber and the legislature must reduce public employee positions, compensation, benefits or a combination of the three to adopt a balanced budget.  The public employee unions, which helped elect the Governor, will not be pleased that “Oregon’s budget is balanced on the backs of state workers.”  Public employee union reaction could determine whether Kitzhaber Version 3.0 is his final term.

After years of growth, Oregon's budget is set to fall

DEQ Water Quality Standards Shake the Halls

Legislative leaders expressed concern over the DEQ proposed new Water Quality Standards that address water toxins.  The DEQ is set to adopt the strictest standards in the Nation.  Neither municipal or industrial wastewater dischargers can meet the new standards.

The House Business & Labor Committee has scheduled an informational hearing for February 11 to hear from the DEQ, EPA and wastewater discharges concerning the proposed standards.

DEQ Proposes Revisions for Water Quality Standards to Help Reduce Toxic Pollutants in State’s Waterways