Plan advocates increased harvest, but funds would fall

Annual timber sales on the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Western Oregon would more than triple in the preferred alternative of a draft management plan released today by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

However, both Jackson and Josephine counties would see a slight reduction in timber receipts despite the increased harvest because of a change in how the revenues are calculated.

The 727 million board foot (mmbf) annual sale quantity in Alternative 3 would produce an estimated $2.16 billion in revenue during a 10-year period, according to the 1,650-page draft environmental impact statement for the Western Oregon Plan Revisions, also known as WOPR.

The current annual timber sale for the BLM's six districts in Western Oregon is 203 mmbf.

In the agency's Medford District, the preferred alternative would aim for an average 131 mmbf to be sold each year. The district's annual timber sale target is 57 mmbf, but the harvest has typically been much less in recent years.

The goal is to provide increased timber input as required in the Oregon & California Lands Act of 1937 while protecting populations of species listed under the Endangered Species Act, said BLM state director Ed Shepard.

Despite the increase in timber harvests, both Jackson and Josephine counties would lose a little timber income because the plan would provide timber receipts to counties under the O&C formula rather than the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000. Congress extended the rural schools act to include this year.

Under the preferred alternative, Jackson County would receive an average of $16.9 million each year for the next decade, compared to the $17.8 million under the rural schools act, according to the document.

Josephine County, which now receives $13.8 million, would get some $13 million annually for the first 10 years.

None of the O&C counties in Western Oregon would receive 100 percent of what they now receive from the rural schools act. The counties are expected to receive about $108 million a year under the preferred alternative, which would produce 3,442 jobs, the document concludes.

Although the timber receipt dollars for Jackson County would drop slightly under the preferred alternative, the steady income coupled with an expected boost in local employment would be a welcome change, said Jackson County Commissioner C.W. Smith.

"This is a real good thing — it creates a steady line of income," he said, noting the receipts don't include those from national forest lands.

"And it will create a huge economic benefit to local communities with the wood products jobs," he added. "That's huge for us. I'm really encouraged by it."

Smith also believes the draft addresses ways to protect fisheries as well as species listed under the Endangered Species Act.

Lesley Adams, outreach coordinator for the Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center in Ashland, disagreed that any of the three action alternatives in the plan would protect watersheds, endangered species or improve the health of forests.

The result will be more cutting of old-growth timber, she said.

"The WOPR is part of a broader strategy to roll back old-growth forest protection that stems from the Bush administration's close relationship with the timber industry," she said.

She urged the agency to be more "forward thinking" by working with rural communities to thin previously logged land.

"We can provide jobs and improve forest health," she said, noting that various stakeholders have already started working together on such projects. "Instead, this administration seems intent on fueling more conflict and return to the boom and bust cycles."

Chris West, vice president of the American Forest Resource Council, which lobbies for the timber industry, suggested the BLM could harvest more timber.

"The bottom line is that these (O&C) lands were to be managed for counties and communities," he said. "This is clearly getting a lot closer to a level that will help these rural communities to be able to provide the services their citizens expect."

He questioned whether the harvest would be enough to offset climate change brought about by catastrophic wildfires pouring carbon into the atmosphere.

"This is still a dramatic reduction in harvest before the (1994) Northwest Forest Plan," he added.

The draft plan is in part the result of a 2003 legal settlement between the federal government and the Portland-based council. The timber group had sued because the federal government had never met what it said is the timber volume of 1 billion board feet from federal forest lands that was expected from the 1994 master plan approved by the Clinton administration. The suit also accused the agency of failing to meet the requirements of the O&C Act.

The settlement required the BLM to consider adopting a management plan that would eliminate forest reserves on the former O&C lands, except those required to protect endangered species from extinction.

Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at pfattig@mailtribune.com.