Oregon Governor Tina Kotek has backed herself in a corner. The Governor has identified a severe housing shortage with a goal to build 36,000 homes each year. That would double the number of homes built in Oregon per year. The Governor’s Housing Production Advisory Council identified many barriers to meeting her goal, but bypassed the most obvious, the lack of timber.

The Oregon State Forester Cal Mukumoto is holding three more listening sessions to hear final thoughts from the public prior to making a recommendation to the Board of Forestry on a path forward for completing the draft Western Oregon State Forests Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) and Western Oregon State Forest Management Plan (FMP) for 640,000 acres of state-managed forestlands in western Oregon. It seems Mukumoto has learned nothing from the failed mapping project. It should be apparent that the past six years in development of a 70-year HCP plan misses revenues needed by over 30% costing rural counties roughly $18 million per year, and exceeds habitat acres needed by 150%, according to Oregon Forests Forever.

The HCP is intended to protect endanger species, but in doing so it endangers the housing industry preventing harvesting and active forest management on about 40% of Oregon's state forests decreasing timber harvest by 50 percent. The HCP involves prescribed fire (Rx) work burning off debris to reduce fire risk, but at the same time, damaging timber that could have been removed to build homes. The Governor has another problem in justifying these burns that give off carbon pollutants where harvesting would sequester the CO2 in the wood to build homes.

On the private side, the state has allowed the sale of 200,000 acres to a Chinese man associated with the CCP. Was this in the plan when Speaker Kotek exempted exporting timber to China from the Corporate Access Tax (CAT)? The restrictions on timber forces Governor Kotek to bring in timber from Europe and Canada leaving counties in lack of revenue it has depended on. Rural leaders have calculated this will eliminate police, teachers, firefighters, health care workers and other critical services for already under-served Oregonians leaving them vulnerable to the infiltration of cartels - yet another problem the Governor made as Speaker that she seems without the ability to control.

Governor Kotek also took a hit when Oregon State University rejected management of the Elliott State Research Forest due to the constraints of HCP. Washington State is now considering a land trust, what Elliott Forest was, to fund their child care centers with a working forest. "Working forest" seems to be the key to managing a productive forest, which is lacking in HCP and why OSU rejected management.

Oregon’s management of state forests is guided by forest management plans that are adopted by the Board of Forestry (OAR 629-035-0030). Forest management plans are designed to provide a full range of social, economic, and environmental outcomes that provide the “greatest permanent value” to all Oregonians (OAR 629-035-0020). The draft HCP is how ODF wants to ensure compliance with the federal Endangered Species Act while implementing the forest management plan.

Has ODF reversed the order of application? The FMP needs to achieve the "greatest permanent value" to all Oregonians (not species) before HCP. The Endangered Species Act directs states to “seek to conserve endangered species and threatened species…in furtherance of the purposes of this Act.” Is the HCP really necessary? "Seek" and "furtherance" is 85% of the way, not 150% overkill.

The National Forest Service has recently switched from their 10-year wildfire strategy, which includes mechanically thinning fire-prone forests, to a top-down D.C. approach amending all 128 forest land management plans to “conserve and steward” old-growth forests through a single Environmental Impact Statement prohibiting commercial logging, which will further impact rural communities. Under the Northwest Forest Plan, three-quarters of national forest land in Oregon is off-limits to routine active forest management, even though wildfires have burned millions of acres including endangered species’ habitat.

"ODF’s total purpose for HCP is to support the overall goal of the updated FMP by improving certainty around both ESA compliance and timber harvests." However, the decrease in timber harvest is a poor definition of certainty. The current approach of compliance through “take avoidance” has been costly and complex that needed new management. This approach requires extensive species surveys, resulting in shifting protections that, over time, may impact the quality and durability of the habitat provided, resulting in fewer acres available for harvest.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A reprieve for the Governor’s affordable housing objective is a $78 billion bipartisan tax package unveiled by Congressional negotiators this week that includes a provision that its backers hope will spur home building nationwide. The Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024 would expand the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program, which offers incentives for building homes for lower-income households. A Northwest nonprofit testified that Oregon’s home prices have increased 40-50% over the last three years.

Yet another stumbling block for the Governor is the recent closure of a sawmill in Banks. This creates concerns for Oregon’s timber industry. Hampton Lumber announced plans to close its Banks sawmill that affect 58 employees in a city of less than 2,000 people. The mill has operated since 1961.

ODF is seeking input on HCP and FMP during two in-person listening sessions, and one virtual listening session.

• Eugene on January 25 at the Lane Events Center, Meeting Room #4, W. 13th Ave., doors open for signup at 5 p.m., with the meetings starting at 5:30 p.m.
• Astoria on January 31 at The Loft at the Red Building, 20 Basin St. doors open for signup at 5 p.m., with the meetings starting at 5:30 p.m.
• Virtual meeting on January 29 at 1 p.m. Advance registration is required. More information on the listening sessions is available here.

If attending is not possible, written comments must be received by February 2. Email comments to forestryinformation@odf.oregon.gov or mail them to State Forester Cal Mukumoto, Building B, 2600 State St., Salem, OR 97310.


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2024-01-26 11:13:11

Last Update: 2024-01-26 17:20:47