Oregon Forest Industries Council

Press Releases

Board of Forestry Advances 70-year Forest Plan

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Forces County and Forestry Department Budgets into the Red

[SALEM, March 7, 2024] – After three failed motions to either revise the draft Habitat Conservation Plan to increase harvest or delay the vote, today the Oregon Board of Forestry voted four-to-three to advance a 70-year Habitat Conservation Plan that will cost rural Oregon counties millions of dollars and send the Department of Forestry’s operating budget into the red.

“While we are not surprised by today’s vote, we are extremely disappointed,” said OFIC President Chris Edwards. “Options were on the table to ensure species thrive while conserving critical jobs and our capacity to build homes from locally grown Oregon trees. Instead, there was lot of process but not a lot of progress, and in the end the Board made a decision that sacrificed too much and added to a growing list of unbalanced choices in this state; choices that haven’t been leading to good outcomes for working families. And there is no evidence this one will be terribly different.”

The plan has been controversial from the beginning, as timber harvest on state forests are an important source of revenue for the Oregon Department of Forestry and for 15 Forest Trust Land Counties and hundreds of taxing districts with which the state has nearly a century old contractual relationship to actively manage land the counties deeded to the state. In return, the Department provides 64 percent of the revenues produced from timber harvest to the counties for critical public services.

After releasing the draft plan two years ago, the Board has heard from thousands of Oregonians in public and written testimony, including from legislators, county representatives, forest sector employees and rural Oregonians, asking for changes that would produce a better balance. Alternatives were proposed by experts that would have increased harvest levels while still maintaining species protection. In response to such a high volume of disagreement and controversy, recent Board meetings have dramatically restricted opportunities for testimony or sidelined the public to forums where the Board wasn’t present.

Despite that, and the fact that the most recent modeling data indicate the proposed plan will generate far more habitat (150 percent more) than originally projected, last Friday, State Forester Cal Mukumoto released his recommendation to advance the plan with no changes.

“The recommendation by State Forester Mukumoto is rather disheartening,” said Tillamook County Commissioner Erin Skaar. “Counties should be treated and viewed as partners in the management of these forests. We entrusted them to the state for long-term management in partnership, however in two years of discussing this plan there have not been any changes made that the counties have requested. Our communities will not be the same. More mills will close, and counties will have increased expenses that frankly, we do not know how we will fund.”  

Because most counties distribute a significant amount of revenues they receive from state forest harvest to local schools, it will be local school districts that receive the largest cuts.  

“Fortunately, we have a safety net in the state called the school equalization plan,” said Coos County Commissioner John Sweet. “But this is going to put a burden of millions of dollars upon that plan. I hope the people that run that know this and have those resources. There are a few small rural school districts who get more money from harvest revenues than they will from school equalization.”  

On Tuesday, Governor Tina Kotek sent a letter to the Board of Forestry expressing her commitment to work with the counties and bring a proposal to the 2025 legislative session to permanently address the estimated financial shortfall the counties will experience because of the reduced harvest associated with the Habitat Conservation Plan.  

“[The Department’s legislative coordinator] discussed the experience in the Legislature this session – described as a ‘tight fiscal environment’ – where there was an ask for $3.5 million from the General Fund that was turned down for [the] Department,” said Skaar. “I appreciate the governor’s optimism, but it’s a very frightening space to be looking at a wing and a prayer that the Legislature refills that for all of us. If we couldn’t find $3.5 million, where will we find the $35 million.”  

The plan would also reduce revenue used to fund the Department’s state lands division in the coming biennium close to $30 million; money the agency currently uses to pay the salaries of employees who maintain forest roads, replant and restore state forests after wildfire, and even serve as firefighters during the height of fire season.   

“If harvest levels drop to 167 million board feet, this is an $88 million biennial reduction to the Department and the trust counties,” said Board member Karla Chamber. “Over 70 years this is $3.08 billion coming out of those 15 trust counties and the Department without interest, the very agency we need financially healthy to fight wildfires. If we look to Oregon taxpayers to pay for all of this, are we better off? There is no financial plan for this Habitat Conservation Plan; a future negotiation is not a budget plan, a contract or a commitment.”

The Department set out to develop a Habitat Conservation Plan for management of over 600,000 acres of Oregon’s western state forests, starting in 2017, to ensure species conservation and financial viability for the Department. A Habitat Conservation Plan is a voluntary plan or agreement available to landowners under the federal Endangered Species Act to protect wildlife species and the ecosystems on which they depend. It is intended to ensure landowners’ operational flexibility and assurances while providing for the needs of fish and wildlife.

In 2018 the Board approved pursuit of the plan based on a business case analysis and modeling data that projected harvest levels under a Habitat Conservation Plan would be roughly 250 million board feet – which roughly matched what the Department had been harvesting annually since 2000. As the plan developed, that number was initially revised down to roughly 225 million board feet, a number the Department continued to use until last year when more accurate modeling data indicated the plan would produce closer to 168-187 million board feet annually, roughly 30 percent less than originally promised.

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The Oregon Forest Industries Council is a trade association representing more than 50 Oregon forestland owners and forest products manufacturers. OFIC’s members combine sustainable forest management practices with the latest science and technology to continuously improve the environmental, social and economic value of healthy working forests. We protect and manage more than three million acres of Oregon forestlands, protect employment of over 60,000 Oregonians and make Oregon the nation’s largest state producer of softwood lumber, plywood and engineered wood. For more information, visit ofic.com.

Department of Forestry Mishandles Plan for State Forests

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Data Reveals Plan Forces Budgets into the Red

[SALEM, February 8, 2023] – Last week, the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) revealed the agency used inaccurate modeling data to develop a plan to manage over 600,00 acres of Oregon’s state forests for the next 70 years. As a result, they have vastly miscalculated the true financial impact the plan would have on both the agency’s budget and the budgets of 15 Oregon counties who depend on revenue from state forests.

New data released last week indicate the plan would reduce revenue used to fund the agency’s state lands division in the coming biennium close to $30 million; money the agency currently uses to pay the salaries of employees who maintain forest roads, replant and restore state forests after wildfire, and even serve as firefighters during the height of fire season.  

“There is no good reason that the most productive forestland in the state of Oregon cannot produce sustainable funding for local governments, jobs, timber supply and environmental services such as critical wildlife habitat and clean water,” said OFIC President Chris Edwards. “However, the new data reveals that the department has missed the mark. Whether it is their intent or not, ODF and the Board of Forestry are essentially leveraging the Legislature into spending more General Fund to subsidize the state forests program and pay for county services because of their management strategy choices.”

The plan developed by ODF not only creates financial stress on an agency that has been plagued with financial and leadership issues for years, it also will dramatically reduce money for rural county services like fire departments, community colleges, healthcare centers, emergency response, libraries, recreation centers, and K-12 school districts.

“The proposed plan will reduce local government revenues by nearly $8.5 million, impacting education (K-12 and college), public safety, transportation, health care and other first responders,” said Clatsop County Commissioner Courtney Bangs. “It will also have broader implications for the local economy and lead to the elimination of family wage jobs. The Board of Forestry’s final decision will impact our community’s health and well-being for generations to come and we deserve better.”

As recently as three months ago, ODF represented to the Board of Forestry that their plan would initially produce 250 million board feet of timber harvest annually, based on modeling data they’ve been using to develop the plan over the last two years. At every step during the process, forest products companies and county representatives have raised concerns about the projections and have questioned their accuracy. Last week, the agency applied the plan to implementation on the ground, and new data indicates harvest levels will be as low as 165 million board feet a year, a 34 percent reduction from what was previously represented, and will not increase over the life of the 70-year plan.

“ODF has been developing this plan behind closed doors, and what little information they do release to us seems unrealistic, which is what we’ve been concerned about since day one,” said Tillamook County Commissioner David Yamamoto. “Now we know that the worst-case scenario is true: the data they used to model impacts was wrong, and the actual impact will be much greater. Clatsop County will be the hardest hit for sure, but this will create job losses throughout the state.”

Two years ago, ODF secured permission from the Board of Forestry to pursue a Habitat Conservation Plan under the assumption that such a plan would improve both conservation and financial outcomes on state forests. A Habitat Conservation Plan is a voluntary plan or agreement available to landowners under the federal Endangered Species Act to protect wildlife species and the ecosystems on which they depend. It is intended to ensure landowners operational flexibility and assurances while providing for the needs of fish and wildlife.

The plan has been controversial from the beginning, as timber harvest on state forests are an important source of revenue for the department and for 15 Forest Trust Land Counties and hundreds of taxing districts with which the state has nearly a century old contractual relationship to actively manage land the counties deeded to the state. In return, ODF provides 64 percent of the revenues produced from timber harvest to the counties for critical public services.

“We hope to see strong leadership from the Chair of the Board of Forestry calling for reconsideration of the path they are on. It is a 70-year plan. They have time to go back to the drawing board and draft a sustainable win-win-win plan for the future of our local communities,” Edwards said.

The department is currently taking comment through March 6 at 5 p.m. on the plans that put the prescriptions of the plan into action on state forests. The implementation plans are available on ODF’s website. Comments can be submitted online by using this form.

Oregonians Shocked by ODFW Commission’s Denial of Science in Marbled Murrelet Decision

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[SALEM, August 24] – Oregon’s Department of Fish and Wildlife Commission voted in favor of elevating the marbled murrelet, a small seabird, from threated to endangered on the Oregon Endangered Species list despite nearly 900 Oregonians who urged commissioners to reject the move. Commissioners also ignored advice from their own Fish and Wildlife staff, who advised against the uplisting, and data from federal agencies showing growth in the marbled murrelet population and habitat over the past two decades.

The decision is not sitting well with Oregonians across the state. Oregon Forests Forever, a statewide coalition of individuals, organizations and businesses who support active, sustainable management of Oregon’s forests, solicited reactions and responses to the decision. Many of them said they feared the listing would devastate local economies and communities and considered the decision in direct conflict with scientific data.

“If a species is to be listed as endangered, then there ought to be science to point to the need for such a designation,” said Woodburn resident Sherman Lackey.  “If the science is ignored, the commission has abandoned their responsibly and violated the law. The commission needs to revisit their decision regarding the marbled murrelet and follow the science.”

“As a native-born Oregonian, I am against this policy on the marbled murrelet,” said Stayton resident Richard Ackerman. “The course of the commission is dead wrong when the science says they are thriving. Listing them will only cause irreparable harm to our forests and communities.”

None of the scientific data support an uplist decision for the small sea bird. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports within a 95% confidence interval that the population is rising by approximately 2.2% per year. Additionally, the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have concluded all types and forms of murrelet habitat have been increasing since the listing of the species in the 1990s. ODFW biologists concluded the same in their analysis, stating “the amount of murrelet nesting habitat will likely continue to increase over time in Oregon.”

In response to the commission’s decision, Parkdale resident Jeffrey Snyder said, “This appears to be another political decision that is not based on science, but politics.”

Several responders to Oregon Forests Forever cited the listing of the northern spotted owl and the economic fall-out as reasons the commission should consider the impact a decision like this has on communities.

Florence resident said Lori Wangerin said, “The spotted owl cost my husband his job that he loved with the Forest Service. Don’t allow this to cost the jobs of other families.”

Wilsonville resident Karen Frey said, “Please don’t put more regulations on the timber industry again. The spotted owl decimated so many towns, communities and lives. Don’t do it again. The marbled murrelet should not be classified as endangered.”

In an all-day zoom meeting on July 9, the ODFW Commission received opposition testimony from several organizations, certified wildlife biologists and current and past elected officials who represent or represented constituencies who would be impacted by the decision, including Coos County Commissioner Johns Sweet, 1st district Oregon House Representative David Brock Smith (who represents all of Curry County and parts of Coos, Douglas, and Josephine counties) and former Tillamook County Commissioner and current ODFW Commissioner Mark Labhart.

The commission also received legal testimony from Kirk Maag, environmental and natural resources attorney at Stoel Rives LLP, who concluded “reclassification of the marbled murrelet as endangered would violate applicable laws” as none of the statutory requirements to reclassify the species have been met.

“It’s unconscionable that the commission has made a decision that flies in the face of reality and is an absolute slap in the face to decades of costly investments by rural Oregonians,” said Seth Barnes, Director of Forest Policy for the Oregon Forest and Industries Council. “The growing marbled murrelet population and habitat is a result of forest policy decisions that cost many Oregonians their livelihoods. Those Oregonians know, intimately, the short and long-term consequences of these decisions: first job loss and poverty followed by increasing fuel loads that lead to catastrophic wildfires, poor air quality, public health, and lost resources.”

Tillamook resident Ellie Hilger echoed Barnes’ concerns, stating she was shocked and very disappointed to hear of the commission’s decision. “Overlooking sound science will be devastating to my local economy. I am a teacher, and my husband is a forester on the Tillamook coast. Our community relies on timber as part of our economy. Why take that away from us? My husband and I have a little girl, and God willing, we wish to have more children. We can’t stay here if my husband doesn’t have a job to support our family.”

The seven-member commission is appointed by the Oregon Governor and confirmed by the Oregon Senate.

“Clearly the commission’s decision completely disregarded the professional recommendations of its own agency biologists. This sends a strong message that there’s a disconnect between what the science would seem to say and the politics of this issue,” said Kyle Williams, Director of Forest Protection for Oregon Forest and Industries Council. “Avoiding agenda driven management of Oregon’s fish and wildlife is critical, and this decision is another example of how important it is to have balanced representation from across the state. We strongly urge the Governor to consider this as she fills the long expired Congressional District 3 seat.”

Photo Credit: Thomas Hamer, Hamer Environmental L.P.

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The Oregon Forest & Industries Council is a trade association representing more than 50 Oregon forestland owners and forest products manufacturers. OFIC’s members combine sustainable forest management practices with the latest science and technology to continuously improve the environmental, social and economic value of healthy working forests. We protect and manage more than 5 million acres of Oregon forestlands, employ nearly 60,000 Oregonians, and make Oregon the nation’s largest state producer of softwood lumber and plywood. For more information, go to ofic.com.

Contact: Sara Duncan

Phone: 503-828-2373

Email: sara@ofic.com

Oregon Forest & Industries Council Hires New President

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Today the Oregon Forest & Industries Council board of directors announced it has selected Chris Edwards as the organization’s next President. Currently President of government relations firm Tivaci Group LLC, Edwards will transition into his new role in the first week of July.

“We are extremely fortunate to have secured Chris to lead OFIC’s high-functioning team of professionals,” said Todd Payne, OFIC Chairman of the Board and President and CEO of Seneca Jones Timber Co. “We are confident his track record of finding common ground through a solutions-oriented, forward-looking approach will continue the industry’s momentum into the next generation. Chris is truly one of us. With roots in the woods and sawdust in his veins, he comes from a family-owned and operated mill business and has always been a champion of natural resources issues both in and out of the Legislature. We are looking forward to the positive energy he will bring to our team.”

Edwards comes to OFIC with ten years of extensive leadership experience in the Legislature, having served as a Democrat for three years in the Oregon House representing House District 14 (West Eugene and Junction City) followed by seven years in the Oregon Senate representing District 7 (North Eugene, West Eugene and Junction City). While in the Legislature, Edwards was known for his ability to work seamlessly with both political parties on intensely controversial environmental issues in pivotal committee positions, including Chair of the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee, and Co-Chair of the Natural Resources Joint Sub-Committee of Ways and Means.

In 2016 Edwards stepped down to accept the position of Assistant Vice President for Strategic Initiatives at the University of Oregon. Edwards left the University after two years to start his own government relations firm, where OFIC has been his largest client since 2019. A native of Eugene, Edwards spent several years working at his family owned and operated mill in Goshen and running a small forest products export/import company before his tenure in the Legislature.

“I am truly honored to take on this new role and add strength to the collaborative focus of today’s forest products sector,” said Edwards. “This is an exciting time to be involved in forest policy and working with some of the most pioneering forestry professionals in the world. Private forests provide environmental, social and economic benefits for all Oregonians – from clean water to carbon capture and storage in long-lived wood products to wildlife habitat to tens of thousands of family-wage jobs – our industry is inherently part of the solution to climate change and an economic main stay of Oregon. I look forward to working with OFIC members and other partners as we advance into the future of Oregon forestry.” 

Edwards will replace Kristina McNitt, who is retiring after nine years as OFIC President, and 25 years of natural resource advocacy before the Oregon state legislature.

“Kristina capably led and empowered OFIC staff for nine years through critically important moments of our industry’s history,” said Payne. “Her loyalty, instinct, strategic thinking, work ethic and grit will be sorely missed, but we are overjoyed for her to finally get to relax in retirement – she has more than earned it.”

Herd Freed Hartz, based in Seattle, conducted the executive search on behalf of the OFIC board of directors.

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The Oregon Forest & Industries Council is a trade association representing more than 50 Oregon forestland owners and forest products manufacturers. OFIC’s members combine sustainable forest management practices with the latest science and technology to continuously improve the environmental, social and economic value of healthy working forests. We protect and manage more than 5 million acres of Oregon forestlands, employ nearly 60,000 Oregonians, and make Oregon the nation’s largest state producer of softwood lumber and plywood. For more information, go to ofic.com.

Contact: Sara Duncan

Phone: 503-828-2373

Email: sara@ofic.com

Study Finds Tax Burden Greater on Forest Sector Than on Other Oregon Businesses

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[SALEM, April 13, 2021] – The Oregon Forest & Industries Council today released a groundbreaking report from national accounting firm Ernst & Young detailing the total tax burden on the private forest sector in Oregon. Presented to the Government Issues Committee of the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce this morning, the report’s primary finding concludes the Oregon forest sector pays more than one-and-a-half times more on average than other Oregon businesses.

“By looking at a variety of publicly available tax and economic data sources for fiscal year 2019, we concluded the tax burden on Oregon’s forest industry is greater than other Oregon industries, including the agriculture and manufacturing sectors, and is one-and-a-half times greater than the overall total Oregon business tax burden,” said Caroline Sallee, project lead on the report and Senior Manager with Ernst & Young LLP’s Quantitative Economics and Statistics Group.

Ernst & Young’s report is the first time a comprehensive analysis has looked at the aggregate forest industry tax burden and comes at a time when the Oregon Legislature is considering legislation that would further increase taxes on the sector.

“Our intuition told us this had to be the worst possible time to further increase taxes on businesses, and on the forest sector in particular,” said Todd Payne, Chairman of the Oregon Forest & Industries Council’s Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer for Seneca Family of Companies. “We’ve just suffered the worst wildfire season in history – private forestland owners lost over 400,000 acres in the Labor Day fires and we are actively working to restore and replant those lands at significant costs. Many of our rural communities are suffering multiple extreme hardships as they struggle to rebuild post-fire while the global pandemic and business shutdowns are taking enormous tolls. This report unequivocally concludes our sector already pays more than its fair share in taxes and it vindicated our sense that additional tax increases are motivated more by philosophical differences about forest management than they are by any sense of tax equity.”

The report calculated the total tax burden by aggregating all taxes paid by the sector, including property taxes, income taxes, small tract forestland taxes, corporate income and excise taxes, fire assessments and privilege taxes. All told, in 2019 the forest sector contributed over $142 million to state tax coffers.

“Given the report’s findings, we now know that legislation under consideration in the 2021 legislative session would effectively double the total taxes currently paid by the forest sector,” said Adrian Miller, Chair of the Oregon Forest & Industries Council’s Tax Committee and Director of Public Affairs for Rayonier. “That would increase the forest sector’s effective aggregate tax rate to nearly three times more than other Oregon businesses pay. At a time when the latest state revenue forecast indicates the Legislature has nearly $800 million more to work with this session than it originally thought and has billions of dollars in reserves, doubling the tax burden on the forest sector seems unnecessary.”

As the number one softwood lumber and plywood producer in the nation, Oregon’s forest sector is one of the state’s cornerstone industries and serves as the economic backbone for many rural counties. Lane County, where the report was unveiled, combined with neighboring Douglas county are often considered the wood basket of the United States as the two counties together encompass over a quarter of the state’s annual timber harvest. Over 80 percent of this timber is harvested from privately owned forestlands.

“When the Chamber was first made aware of this study, we were thrilled at the opportunity to bring the project lead in front of our Government Issues Committee,” said Vonnie Mikkelsen, President and CEO of the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce. “In Lane County alone, the forest sector provides over 7,000 jobs that pay, on average, 130 percent of the county annual wage. Eighty-five percent of Lane county is forested, and we are home to nearly 30 primary wood products manufacturing facilities. This study is the first time we’ve seen information like this put together and underscores that the health of the forest sector has a direct bearing on our local economies.”

Ernst & Young was commissioned by the Oregon Forest & Industries Council to complete the report at the end of 2020, after reviewing prior work done by the firm. Oregon Business and Industry commissioned Ernst & Young in 2020 to quantify the impact of recently enacted state tax programs on the total tax burden borne by Oregon businesses. That report concluded in the past few years, the Oregon Legislature has increased the tax burden on businesses by 41 percent.

“We never before had reason to commission an exercise like this until we saw legislation introduced that attempted to change the forest tax program in Oregon,” said Miller. “We felt to have a reasonable conversation about that we needed to first establish a baseline for what the sector currently contributes to state taxes. We selected Ernst & Young from among several leading regional and national economics firms largely because of the experience they – and Ms. Sallee, in particular – had in analyzing the impact of diverse state and local taxation programs on businesses, both in Oregon and across the United States.”

To view a recording of the full presentation to the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, please click here. To view the full Ernst & Young report, please click here.

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The Oregon Forest & Industries Council is a trade association representing more than 50 Oregon forestland owners and forest products manufacturers. OFIC’s members combine sustainable forest management practices with the latest science and technology to continuously improve the environmental, social and economic value of healthy working forests. We protect and manage more than 5 million acres of Oregon forestlands, employ nearly 60,000 Oregonians, and make Oregon the nation’s largest state producer of softwood and plywood. For more information, go to ofic.com.

Contact: Sara Duncan

Phone: 503-828-2373

Email: sara@ofic.com

Restoring Oregon’s Forests After Wildfire: Capturing and Storing Carbon

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For Immediate Release
Contact: Sara Duncan
Phone: 503-828-2373
Email: sara@ofic.com

[SALEM, October 14, 2020] – On Labor Day, 2020, Oregon witnessed the ignition of the most destructive and damaging wildfire season in recent history, but now that rains and firefighting efforts have slowed the spread of the fires, the forest sector is pivoting its focus to the future – restoration and regeneration of Oregon’s forests – a feat that will likely require over 100 million tree seedlings.

“More than half of Oregon’s human-caused carbon emissions are captured by its 30 million acres of forests, but the 2020 wildfires have turned hundreds of thousands of acres of privately-owned forests that were once thriving, healthy, carbon capturing engines into smoldering carbon emitters,” said Kristina McNitt, President of the Oregon Forest and Industries Council. “Restoring those acres of fire-damaged trees back to productive forestland is the best way to prevent dead and dying trees from re-burning in the future and maximize the forest’s ability to capture and store carbon.”

Driven by an extreme east wind, in less than a week, fires burned nearly one million acres across all ownership types. The fires threatened mills, destroyed homes and structures, took lives, displaced thousands of Oregonians, blanketed the state in dangerously high smoke levels, and dramatically impacted whole communities, many of which may never be the same.

The 2020 wildfires in Oregon burned over 350,000 acres of productive private timberland. Across all ownership types, the 2020 fires burned four times what Oregon harvests every year, which may have killed as much as 15 billion board feet of timber – enough wood to build 1 million homes.

Initially, private forestland owners and operators were focused on the front lines, supporting federal and state firefighting efforts with more than 650 employees and over 350 pieces of privately-owned equipment.

“Throughout the state, countless examples exist where private timber companies provided the only personnel and equipment on vast sections of fires, with foresters and loggers selflessly working thousands of hours to protect lands and communities, irrespective of ownership, only to return after a shift to help their own families and neighbors evacuate.” said Kyle Williams, Director of Forest Protection for the Oregon Forest and Industries Council. “It was truly an outstanding response to a worst-case scenario.”

Despite the best efforts of firefighters, wildfires converted a massive amount of wood into air pollution, emitting more carbon into the atmosphere in a few weeks than both the state’s energy and transportation sectors – which were previously Oregon’s largest sources of carbon emissions.

One large fire year can emit up to 15 million tons of carbon, which is equivalent to a quarter of Oregon’s annual human-caused emissions and twice as much carbon as all the cars in Portland emit in one year.

“Our communities are reeling in the aftermath of the fires,” said Seth Barnes, Director of Forest Policy for Oregon Forest and Industries Council. “We’re mourning with them, but it’s our responsibility to start thinking right away about what comes next. Quickly removing damaged timber and milling it into wood products prevents carbon emissions, eliminates fuel for future wildfires, and provides the very materials needed to rebuild these communities from fiber that would otherwise be wasted.”

After a fire, damaged trees quickly become susceptible to insect infestation and rot, emitting carbon into the atmosphere as they decay and creating deadly conditions for firefighters should a future wildfire re-ignite in that same forest in the future.

Reforestation after harvest is required by the Oregon Forest Practices Act, and Oregon reforestation crews typically plant about 40 million seedlings each year – four for each one harvested – at an average cost of about $335 per acre. Based on the extent of the fire perimeter, estimates indicate post-fire reforestation efforts will likely require over 100 million tree seedlings, excluding any reforestation efforts on federal forest, more than double the seedlings needed for average annual reforestation efforts. This estimate accounts for acres of timber not completely killed in the fires, a percentage of acres that were not forest lands, and a conservative reforestation effort of 350 trees per acre.

Not only do studies demonstrate that post-fire harvest increases the effectiveness of reforestation, studies also conclude that young growing trees capture carbon at a higher rate than older trees, so re-planting with new seedlings after a fire maximizes the forest’s ability to capture carbon in the future.

“While the 2020 wildfires will deeply impact our industry for years to come, the forest products sector will continue to be a cornerstone of Oregon’s economy and we will continue to do what we do best — grow, harvest, and replant new forests while manufacturing carbon-friendly wood products to meet our country’s needs,” said McNitt.  “This is our contribution, and the Oregon way – creating green jobs and locally sourced material to rebuild our homes and communities after this tragedy.”

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The Oregon Forest & Industries Council is a trade association representing more than 50 Oregon forestland owners and forest products manufacturers. OFIC’s members combine sustainable forest management practices with the latest science and technology to continuously improve the environmental, social and economic value of healthy working forests. We protect and manage more than 5 million acres of Oregon forestlands, employ nearly 60,000 Oregonians, and make Oregon the nation’s largest state producer of softwood and plywood. For more information, go to ofic.com.

PROFESSIONAL FORESTERS FILE INITIATIVES TO PROTECT PROVEN FORESTRY PRACTICES AND REDUCE WILDFIRE RISK

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                 

Contact: Sara Duncan

Phone: 503-828-2373

Email: sarad@gallatin.com

 

PROFESSIONAL FORESTERS FILE INITIATIVES TO PROTECT PROVEN FORESTRY PRACTICES AND REDUCE WILDFIRE RISK

Three-Part Plan Safeguards Landowner Rights from Risky Anti-Forestry Management Proposals

[SALEM, November 5, 2019] – Professional foresters and forest landowners filed a package of citizen initiatives for the November 2020 General Election aimed at protecting the rights and proven forestry practices being put at-risk from radical anti-forestry ballot initiatives currently being pursued by environmental extremists.

 

“Oregon has some of the nation’s strongest environmental protections to ensure clean drinking water, require the replanting of millions of new trees and that keep our private forests and environment safe from catastrophic wildfires,” said Jim James, a chief petitioner of the three citizen initiatives and a Foster-based professional forester.

 

“But risky, radical proposals for the 2020 ballot would end proven forestry practices, preventing millions of new seedlings from growing into healthy forests and creating greater risks of dangerous fires that destroy our environment and pollute our air. We are committed to protecting what works and doing everything we can to defeat these risky, radical proposals.”

 

The initiatives filed today protect proven forestry practices and ensure the rights of forest landowners to responsibly manage their forests for both private and public benefit.

 

The Healthy Forests, Wildfire Reduction Plan includes:

 

  • The Oregon Forest Science Standards Act: Requires forest management be guided by peer-reviewed science;
  • The Forestry Oversight Improvement Act: Adds forestry experts to Oregon’s State Board of Forestry; and
  • The Fair and Just Compensation Act: Compensates property owners when government activities unfairly destroy or devalue their property.

 

According to statistics from the Oregon Department of Forestry, in the past 10 years, 80 percent of forest acres burned by uncontrolled wildfire in Oregon have occurred on neglected, unmanaged federal forests.  Although Oregon’s 2019 wildfire season remained relatively calm, over the past decade, more than 2.5 million acres of federal forestland has burned in Oregon, a direct result of years-long litigation over forest management on federal lands, even for health and disease purposes.

 

“Professional forestry is working on private forest lands in Oregon – for the environment, for people and for wildlife. When we protect the rights of Oregon forest landowners, we reduce the risk of catastrophic fires that destroy our environment and pollute our air. When we protect the rights of forest landowners, we ensure millions of newly replanted trees can grow and carbon pollution is pulled from the air,” said James.

 

 

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In Cap-and-Trade Considerations, Oregon Policy-Makers Should Include Reductions for Federal Forest Fire Smoke Carbon Emissions

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 21, 2018

 Sara Duncan 503-586-1246

Oregon Forest & Industries Council

 

In Cap-and-Trade Considerations, Oregon Policy-Makers Should Include Reductions for Federal Forest Fire Smoke Carbon Emissions

 

On Wednesday, August 22, hundreds of policy-makers will gather in Lincoln City for the annual Oregon Coastal Caucus Economic Summit to discuss carbon cap-and-trade mechanisms and ways to reduce Oregon’s carbon footprint.

“Solutions to decrease unchecked wildfires and increase the production of sustainable wood products in our federal forests must be part of the dialogue of Oregon’s cap-and-trade program,” said Kristina McNitt, Oregon Forest & Industries Council President. “Rampant megafires in federal forests have catastrophic consequences for our safety, health, communities, and economy. Private forestland owners already contribute sizable solutions to climate change by managing forests for fire resiliency and sustainably producing renewable wood products that store carbon for the entire life of the product. Federal forests should do the same.”

Last summer, more than 7,600 people were evacuated from their homes. Oregonians suffered unhealthy air quality and emergency-room visits spiked. The cancellations of Oregon Shakespeare Festival performances, the Sisters Folk Festival, and Cycle Oregon cost our state millions in tourism dollars.

Of the more than 700,000 acres that burned in Oregon last fire season – roughly the size of Rhode Island – an equal number of fires started in federal and private forests, but about 96 percent of the acres burned were in federal forests. This summer, over 210,000 timbered acres have already burned – an area larger than Portland, Eugene and Seattle combined – and roughly 90 percent is in federal forests.  Since 2008, nearly 80 percent of burned acres in Oregon were in federal forests.

“There’s a better way to do this,” said Jim James, Executive Director for the Oregon Small Woodlands Association.  “Oregon policy-makers can do something to improve the health and economic vitality of all Oregonians, reduce forest fires, and mitigate climate change: take the position of the International Panel on Climate Change and encourage the use of Oregon-grown wood from federal forests.”

In 2007 and 2008, the International Panel on Climate Change concluded that in “the long term, a sustainable forest management strategy aimed at maintaining or increasing forest carbon stocks, while producing an annual sustained yield of timber, fiber or energy from the forest, will generate the largest sustained mitigation benefit.”

Of the roughly 30 million acres of forestland in Oregon, about 60 percent of it is federally-owned, and roughly 34 percent of it is privately owned (the remainder is tribal and state land). Conversely, 75 percent of Oregon’s timber harvest comes from that private forestland (and only 15 percent from federal land), making Oregon the number one producer of softwood lumber and plywood in the U.S.  Producing renewable, environmentally-friendly products helps the planet: trees literally use sunlight to capture carbon dioxide (a primary greenhouse gas) from the air and turn it into sustainable building products.

In 1971, Oregon pioneered forest regulations and today observes some of the strictest environmental protections in the nation, including mandatory reforestation after harvest. For every tree that is harvested in Oregon, four are planted in its place. Notably, reforestation after fire is not required, but nearly all private forests are rehabilitated after fire and replanted. Federal forests mostly remain charred.

“When our forests go up in flames, decades of carbon sequestration and storage goes with it,” said McNitt. “We can either breathe that carbon into our lungs as smoke, or we can store that carbon in renewable, sustainable wood products and plant trees to re-start that carbon cycle. We encourage our policy-makers to support wood products to meet Oregon’s climate goals.”

 

The Oregon Forest & Industries Council is a trade association representing more than 50 Oregon forestland owners and forest products manufacturers. Our members combine sustainable forest management practices with the latest science and technology to continuously improve the environmental, social and economic value of healthy working forests. We protect and manage more than 5 million acres of Oregon forestlands, employ nearly 60,000 Oregonians, and make Oregon the nation’s largest state producer of softwood and plywood. For more information, go to ofic.com.

The Oregon Small Woodlands Association is a member-based association that represents over 3000 small woodland owners in Oregon. For over 50 years OSWA has helped to serve needs unique to small woodland owners. OSWA focuses on fostering peer-to-peer communication between landowners, providing support for legislative and regulatory challenges, and cultivating partnerships to address and solve common problems. For more information, visit oswa.org.

Winners of Forestry in Focus Image Contest Announced

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Oregon Forest & Industries Council, National Wild Turkey Federation, Oregon Tree Farms System, and Oregon Society of American Foresters today announced 11 winners of the state-wide Forestry in Focus Oregon Managed Forest Image Contest during the Foresters Day at the Capitol in Salem. The contest, which launched in January and was open to Oregon natural resource professionals and students, received over 240 submissions in five categories.

“We were overwhelmed by the interest and participation in the contest,” said Sara Duncan, Public Affairs Director at Oregon Forest & Industries Council. “The fact that we had so many quality entries is a testament to the passion and pride of the people who work in Oregon’s timber industry. Our judging panel had a difficult time selecting winners because there were so many excellent images.”

First and second place winners were selected from each of the five categories outlined in the contest. First place winners received $125 gift cards to Cabela’s, and second place winners received $75 gift cards to Cabela’s. The image with the most votes on the website received the “People’s Choice” award: two tickets to a Portland Timbers soccer game donated by Hampton Family Farms. All 11 images will be on display in the Galleria at the Capital Building in Salem on May 5, in National Wild Turkey Federation’s Turkey Country Magazine, and in-store at Cabela’s Tualatin.

1st place in the Working Selfie category

“Sure It’s Wet, It’s Cold, and It’s Foggy, But it’s Also Worth It” – Paul Betts

2nd place in the Working Selfie category

“Forester” – Tiffany Roddy

1st place in the Wildlife and Landscapes in Working Forests category

“Logging Up Burnt Mountain” – Carissa Spontini

2nd place in the Wildlife and Landscapes in Working Forests category

“Winter Scene … Old and Young Forest” – Joan Martelli

1st place in the We Don’t Just Work Here, We Play Here category

“Casey the Adventure Dog on Alsea Mountain” – Joan Martelli

2nd place in the We Don’t Just Work Here, We Play Here category

“Summer Sunrise” – Tyler Madison

1st place in the Pursuit of Knowledge category

“Seeing the Forest for the Trees” – Tiffany Roddy

2nd place in the Pursuit of Knowledge category

“Take Your Son to Work Day” – Florian Deisenhofer

1st place in the Made in Oregon category

“Feeding the Mill at First Light” – Mike Brim

2nd place in the Made in Oregon category

“Turning Trees into Logs” – Jana Peterson

1st place, People’s Choice Award

“Into the Flames” – Jana Peterson

Agriculture and Forestry Groups Collaborate to Host First-of-its-Kind Communication Outreach Event

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Contacts:

Jenny Schweigert, execdir@agchat.org, 309-241-8803

Sara Duncan, sara@www.ofic.com, 503-586-1246

In an effort to advance forestry and agriculture communications, specifically on social media, Oregon Forest & Industries Council and the AgChat Foundation have collaborated to host a one-day training event on January 17.

The inaugural Log On 2017 conference is designed for foresters, conservationists, farmers, ranchers, natural resource and agribusiness professionals from across the pacific northwest. Sessions will focus on translating experiences within timber and agriculture to relatable conversations and fostering improved communications with those who may have questions about natural resource operations. An emphasis will be placed on expanding communication of personal experiences on social media, in person and with societal leaders. Additionally, the conference will team those in timber and agriculture advocacy to provide supportive networking opportunities.

Brent Fetsch from Northwest Farm Credit Services will set the stage for the day’s collaboration by illuminating the need for joining the offline and online conversations around our forests and fields. The morning will follow with sessions about utilizing tools like Instagram and visually appealing technology to share experiences, and basic Facebook, Instagram and Twitter instruction. A working lunch will feature Oregon Representative Julie Parrish, who will share her personal and professional experiences networking with Oregonians and the importance of social media to grassroots advocacy. The afternoon will focus on navigating challenging conversations, with communications insights from those who work in agriculture and forestry and those who work outside of natural resource.

The day will close with forestry advocacy pioneer, Russ Vaagen of Vaagen Bros. Lumber. Vaagen will discuss his recent experience of jumping into the world of social media and the conversations and value that have derived as a result of making connections with the public. He will leave the audience with his philosophy of an open-minded approach to communicating about food, timber, fuel and fiber.

Seating is limited. Registration is open until January 11. For additional information, session descriptions, presenter bios and details, visitwww.LogOn17.com.

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