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Old 14-02-2003, 06:24 PM
Daniel B. Wheeler
 
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Default Coalition puts forth forest plan

From The Oregonian, Feb. 13, 2003, p C1 (Metro)

Coalition puts forth forest plan
Business and conservancy groups promote new laws to balance logging
and protection along the coast, but county officials resist

By MICHAEL MILSTEIN, The Oregonian
A coalition of more than 30 conservation groups, fishing guides and
coastal businesses Wednesday unveiled a blueprint for state-owned
forests in the Coast Range that would reserve half of the moss-draped
rainscape for protection of fish, wildlife and water quality.
The forest activists say they will begin by pursuing new state laws
to more evenly balance logging with protection of the 500,000-acre
Tillamook and Clatsop state forests and, if that doesn't work, a
ballot initiative.
The proposal by the Tillamook Rainforest Coalition would leave half
of the forests under an Oregon Department of Forestry plan that uses
logging to create a range of forest conditions, from large, dense
trees to open clear-cuts. THe other half, much of it river corridors
valuable to fish and wildlife, would be logged only when needed to
thin overcrowded timber.
An economic study commissioned by the coalition said forest
protection could have a greater payoff for coastal counties than
accelerated logging because it would diversify area economies, ensure
clean drinking water and attract more recreation spending.
But commissioners in rural counties that receive proceeds from state
logging say the proposal betrays the goals of forests replanted by
volunteers after the famed Tillamook fires decades ago. Counties
turned the lands over to the state, with the expectation that
consistent cutting would generate local dollars, they said.
"People in Clatsop County understand trees are not just a product to
be cut and sold," said Clatsop County Commissioner Sam Patrick. "We
understand people from the (Willamette) Valley want to come over and
walk in the forest, but we also need to provide services for our
people that people in the valley take for granted."
The forest reserve proposal may face a challenging legal road. If the
Legislature were to approve an upcoming bill writing the changes into
law, or voters were to pass an initiative doing so, counties may
contest the changes in court as a violation of the deal that
transferred the land to the state.
"It's something both sides would have to agree to," said Tillamook
County Commissioner Tim Josi.
Current state law requires state forests to be managed for their
"greatest permanent value," including timber cutting but also
safeguarding wildlife. By some estimates, as much as a third of the
forests are already off-limits to logging due in part to fish and
wildlife needs.
The forest coalition went to great lengths to argue that greater
forest protections would help area communities, not harm them.
Businesses including the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association,
Tillamook Guides Association, restaurants, markets and art galleries
have signed onto the plan.
Logging overall would not decrease, but it would not increase as much
as the state had planned.
"This is not an antilogging proposal," said Guido Rahr, president of
The Wild Salmon Center and chairman of the coalition. "We respect the
counties' needs for revenue."
Washington County Commissioner Dick Schouten appeared at a news
conference Wednesday in Portland. Although his largely urban county
receives some revenue from state forest logging, he said clear-cutting
spectacular forests for the Coast Range is "like scraping paint off a
Rembrandt to paint something else."
Rivers and streams emerging from the state forests supply water to
about 350,000 people, including coastal towns and Willamette Valley
cities.
Economics professors from the University of Montana and Pacific
University in Forest Grove compiled a study for the coalition,
concluding the Oregon Department of Forestry had neglected many values
of forest protection. Healthy fisheries and wildlife could bring
coastal counties enough hunting, fishing and recreational spending to
drive more job growth than modest increases in logging, it said.
More information is available at www.tillamookrainforest.org


Posted as a courtesy by
Daniel B. Wheeler
www.oregonwhitetrufles.com
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Old 16-02-2003, 03:29 PM
Larry Caldwell
 
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Default Coalition puts forth forest plan

(Daniel B. Wheeler) writes:
Larry Caldwell wrote in message t...
(Daniel B. Wheeler) writes:

But commissioners in rural counties that receive proceeds from state
logging say the proposal betrays the goals of forests replanted by
volunteers after the famed Tillamook fires decades ago. Counties
turned the lands over to the state, with the expectation that
consistent cutting would generate local dollars, they said.


The only reason the counties ended up with the land was that property
owners could not make property tax payments during the great depression,
particularly after the land burned. The land should be sold off in 160
acre homesteads and the sale proceeds distributed to the counties.


That's certainly a possibility that Oregon may be looking at in the
future, Larry. But for that to be a viable option, I think reliable
roads would have to be in existence. And a lot of the coastal range
*roads* are little more than jeep tracks.


That is certainly a consideration. I am sure the circumstances would
vary from parcel to parcel. When they were originally homesteaded there
would have been provisions for roads, though the traditional section line
roads would have been impractical. Building roads would be expensive
too, since good road ballast is sometimes hard to come by in the Coast
Range. There is a lot of shale and sandstone. Basalt is rare in some
areas.

Also, considering the restrictions put on logging in coastal areas
where coho salmon spawn, there are quite a few serious limitations on
what may be done with the property, and when.


The ESA is hardly the most restrictive land use law in Oregon. Remember,
the minimum size parcel you could even build a house on would be 160
acres. I think most of the homesteads in the Coast Range were 160 acres,
so that would work out.

--
http://home.teleport.com/~larryc
 
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