Oregon Governor Kate Brown has signed SB 1546, the Elliott State Forest Bill, at the Department of State Lands. The Governor was joined by fellow State Land Board members Secretary of State Shemia Fagan and State Treasurer Tobias Read, along with legislative leaders and members of the Elliott State Research Forest Advisory Committee.

The Elliott State Forest is a 91,000 acre forest located in Coos and Douglas Counties in the central Oregon Coast Range. It was established in 1930 as Oregon's first state forest and is overseen by the State Land Board and managed by the Department of State Lands as a Common School Fund land asset.

John Charles with the Cascade Policy Institute noted that "in 1995, when DSL released its first Asset Management Plan, the ESF was given an estimated value of $850 million. Since annual timber growth on the Elliott has exceeded harvest levels every year since then, it’s plausible that the forest today is worth more than $1 billion." He chided the bookkeeping that the sale is based on. "So instead of benefiting from timber harvest receipts generated from the ESF, they are making payments to Wall Street bondholders."

According to Governor Brown, "SB 1546 will implement the State Land Board’s vision to keep the Elliott State Forest in public ownership and preserve it for future generations for conservation, economic growth, recreation, education, and forest research. Since 2017, the Department of State Lands has worked with Oregon State University, the Legislature, Tribal representatives, and a diverse group of Oregon stakeholders in a far-reaching collaboration to develop the plan to transform the Elliott into a state research forest."

Article VIII of the Oregon Constitution defines the Common School Fund -- which the Elliott State Forest contributes to -- and requires that its revenues go to schools:

Section 2. Common School Fund. (1) The sources of the Common School Fund are:

(e) The proceeds of the five hundred thousand acres of land to which this state is entitled under the Act of September 4, 1841 (5 Stat. 455).

(2) All revenues derived from the sources mentioned in subsection (1) of this section shall become a part of the Common School Fund. The State Land Board may expend moneys in the Common School Fund to carry out its powers and duties under subsection (2) of section 5 of this Article.

The bill decouples the Elliott State Research Forest from Common School Forest Lands and eliminates direction to the State Forester to manage, control, and protect the Elliott State Forest Lands. It creates the Elliott State Research Forest Authority to administer Elliott State Research Forest. As one former lawmaker put it, "it ceases to become a source of revenue for schools and becomes an unwanted toy for Oregon State University and the behest of environmentalists."

In committee testimony, Associated Oregon Loggers Forest Policy Manager Amanda Asher made clear that "As the Elliott State Forest sits idling, it continues to become denser with fuels, more overgrown with unhealthy and competing vegetation and further away from its potential as a sustainable and productive resource." She continued, "the Elliott will be continuing to add significantly to its fuel loading under the proposed management by Oregon State University. AOL is concerned at the lack of management that is proposed for the Forest given the productivity of the asset and by setting such a low threshold, the University has reduced its ability to do certain research."

AOL is not the only ones pointing to the fire threat. According to Co-Director of the Oregon Timber Unity PAC Angelita Sanchez, the Elliott is a "is another tinderbox waiting to explode. It poses a serious threat to adjacent communities."

“Together, we have found a way to sustain the Common School Fund and keep the Elliott State Forest public, all while protecting the Elliott's diverse habitats, guaranteeing long-term public access to the lands, and keeping a door open for economic opportunity for the South Coast,” said Governor Brown. “The Elliott State Forest will have a lasting legacy as a research forest that will contribute so much to the development of knowledge around forestry and environmental stewardship.”

“The formation of the Elliott State Research Forest shows that Oregonians can come together, work around a common vision, disagree passionately about details, but still find a way to compromise and reach an outcome that represents a real win,” said Treasurer Read. “When we step outside of our silos, we can do big things here in Oregon.”

Read has long been a supporter of the Elliott transformation. Cascade Policy Institute's John Charles has a different take. "The original concept, as put forward by Treasurer Read in 2017, was that OSU would own and manage the Elliott State Research Forest. But after three years of due diligence, OSU announced it would not assume ownership, due to the financial risk. Also, the ESF has lost money in 7 out of the last 9 years."

Charles continued, "These two facts should make you very skeptical about the promise of financial viability. As legislators, you need to know who will backstop this program if expenses exceed revenues. I’ve heard advisory committee members say that the new entity will not be coming to the legislature every two years for operating subsidies. But if taxpayers don’t bail it out, who will?"


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2022-04-15 09:33:12

Last Update: 2022-04-15 10:21:38