Oregon Forest Industries Council

Water

OFIC Launches New Public-Facing Campaign

By

On June 6, 2022 OFIC launched the start of a long-term initiative called For the Trees that showcases Oregon’s timber industry as part of the solution to the social, economic and environmental issues Oregonians care about most. The forest products sector in Oregon is undeniably part of the solution to climate change, catastrophic wildfire prevention, affordable housing, and a healthy environment, and economic opportunity for families throughout Oregon – and this campaign illustrates that.

Oregon is changing and population growth has left many Oregonians with a lack of awareness about the timber industry. For the Trees re-introduces Oregonians to one of Oregon’s flagship industries and celebrates the timber industry’s important story about being part of Oregon’s past and future.

Recently, the timber industry and environmental groups reached a historic agreement that resulted in the most comprehensive changes to Oregon’s forestry regulations in fifty years, which demonstrates how opposing sides can work together on viable solutions to some of the toughest problems facing Oregonians today. It is this spirit of collaboration that the For the Trees campaign celebrates.

Bipartisan legislation marks new era for Oregon forestry

By

May 22, 2022

**This story originally published in The Oregonian

Kate Brown, Chris Edwards and Bob Van Dyk

Brown is governor of Oregon. Edwards is president of the Oregon Forest and Industries Council. Van Dyk is policy director for Oregon and California at the Wild Salmon Center.

Last week, the most comprehensive changes to Oregon’s forestry regulations in 50years were ceremonially signed into law. What is remarkable about the bipartisan Private Forest Accord is not just that it is the most significant update to the Forest Practices Act since 1971, governing the management of more than 10 million acres of private forestland, but how the legislation came to fruition. It’s a story that represents the Oregon Way: old adversaries setting aside their differences and coming together to solve tough problems.

Under the Private Forest Accord, the timber industry and conservation groups reached an unprecedented agreement on the most effective ways to improve protections for the aquatic habitat needed by native fish and amphibians. These changes provide important safeguards for fisheries and clean water, while also securing certainty for forest landowners and economic stability for rural Oregon communities. It is built on the understanding that, by grounding our policy in science-based forest management, we can strike a balance between protecting the health of our forests and creating jobs and economic growth in rural communities. That’s a win-win for Oregon.

This new path forward takes Oregon out of years of gridlock about how private forestlands are managed — marked by countless rounds of heated disagreements at the Capitol, the Board of Forestry, and the local level that led the two sides to file nine competing ballot measures in 2019. In early 2020, they stepped back from the brink by abandoning the measures and beginning negotiations. And in a time of extraordinary divisiveness, the agreement reached by longstanding adversaries signals a moment that should make all Oregonians proud.

The new legislation covers a gamut of actions: increasing no-harvest zones next to streams for shade and water filtration; forest road upgrades that improve fish migration upstream; state-of-the-art computer modeling to protect landslide-prone hillsides; millions of dollars of state and private sector investment for creation of wildlife habitat.

But perhaps most impressive is the process of good faith collaboration and compromise that got us here.

During a time of deep political division, 24 organizations representing two sides with a history of high-stakes conflict set aside their differences and agreed to sit around the table, take a hard look at the latest science, have difficult conversations, and find common ground.

The success we celebrated last week demonstrates how opposing sides can work together on viable solutions to some of the toughest problems facing Oregonians today.

While all Oregonians should take a moment to celebrate – the work is far from over. The rules that implement these changes still require approval by the Board of Forestry and need to be communicated to more than 65,000 forest landowners in every corner of Oregon. This will be followed by years of scientific monitoring and fine tuning on the ground to ensure the changes have the desired outcomes we all set out to accomplish.

The agreement also establishes a framework for future changes to forest practices that keeps the spirit of collaboration alive. This process prioritizes sound science and gives a diverse set of Oregonians a voice in how our forests are managed on a regular basis. This will help to ensure that future generations of Oregonians can continue to enjoy renewable Oregon-grown building products, cold and clean water, wildlife habitat, clean air and the unique recreational opportunities our lush Oregon forests provide.

We’re proud to be a part of this moment, and we invite all Oregonians to join us in celebration and embrace our shared future of collaborative forestry in Oregon. Onward, together.

How a long-sought agreement led to Oregon changing its logging laws

By

April 21, 2022

**This story originally published via the Jefferson Public Exchange

The rules are different for logging depending upon where the trees are in Oregon.

The national forests and Bureau of Land Management forests have more stringent requirements than privately-owned lands. And that’s been a major sore spot for conservation groups for years: that the Oregon Forest Practices Act was not even as strong as similar laws in neighboring states.

But the OFPA got an update in the 2022 legislative session, one of the outcomes of the Private Forest Accord, a meeting-of-the-minds between the timber industry and its critics. The coming together was seen as a desirable alternative to warring ballot measures.

The Oregon Forest & Industries Council was a big player, and the Wild Salmon Center had a stake as well.

Chris Edwards from OFIC and Bob Van Dyk from WSC chat about what got into the legislation, and what comes next.

Private Forest Accord Update

By

In the February 2022 legislative session, Oregon legislators will be asked to codify in state law a comprehensive set of changes to the Oregon Forest Practices Act. The set of changes resulted from more than a year of scientific review and negotiations between private forestry representatives, small forestland owners, and environmental groups, known as the Private Forest Accord.

For current information on the Private Forest Accord, please click here.

Private Forest Accord

What is the Private Forest Accord?

In the February 2022 legislative session, Oregon legislators passed legislation that was signed into law by Governor Kate Brown codifying the most comprehensive set of changes to the Oregon Forest Practices Act since its inception fifty years ago. The set of changes resulted from more than a year of scientific review and negotiations between private forestry representatives, small forestland owners, and environmental groups, known as the Private Forest Accord.

In addition to continuing to provide clean water and protected habitat, the agreement helps provide legal certainty and regulatory stability for Oregon’s forestry sector and the hundreds of thousands of jobs it supports by pursuing a 50-year Habitat Conservation Plan on private forestland from the federal services. It also creates a new framework for how future water-related changes to Oregon’s forest practices will be made that incorporates a robust and thoroughly vetted scientific process. And Oregonians will be assured a stable forest products sector that produces a much-needed supply of renewable wood products, jobs, ample recreation opportunities, and good forest management to reduce wildfire risk.

OFIC and its members are participating in the rulemaking to enact regulations consistent with the deal terms in front of the Board of Forestry in 2022. Following that, an application will be made to the federal services for a state-wide Habitat Conservation Plan on private forestland. It is anticipated that the new rules would phase in over time, with stream buffers potentially going into effect no sooner than summer of 2023 and the rest of the rules going into effect in 2024.

Statement from Chris Edwards, President of the Oregon Forest & Industries Council following passage of the PFA bills:

This is truly a paradigm shift and a moment in our state’s history of which all Oregonians should be proud. This demonstrates it is possible to put differences aside and work together on viable solutions to tough problems. Today we leave the Timber Wars in the past and embark on a new collaborative era of forestry that ensures a future for sustainable active forest management and wood products manufacturing.

Signatories to the Agreement

Private Forest Accord bill signing at the World Forestry Center May 18, 2022.
Photo credit: Andrea Lonas photography

Timber signatories:

Environmental signatories:

  • Campbell Global
  • Nuveen Natural Capital (formerly Greenwood Resources)
  • Hampton Lumber
  • Lone Rock Resources
  • Manulife Timberland & Agriculture (formerly Hancock)
  • Oregon Small Woodlands Association
  • Port Blakely
  • Rayonier
  • Roseburg Forest Products
  • Seneca Sawmill Co/Sierra Pacific Industries
  • Starker Forests
  • Weyerhaeuser
  • Audubon Society
  • Beyond Toxics
  • Cascadia Wildlands
  • Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center
  • Northwest Guides and Anglers
  • Oregon League of Conservation Voters
  • Oregon Stream Protection Coalition
  • Oregon Wild
  • Pacific Coast Fed of Fishermen’s Associations
  • Rogue Riverkeepers
  • Trout Unlimited
  • Umpqua Watersheds
  • Wild Salmon Center

Background

Facilitated by Governor Kate Brown and established in 2020 through nearly unanimous passage of Senate Bill 1602, the Private Forest Accord was formed as part of an agreement by all parties to walk away from six competing ballot measures slated for the November 2020 general election that would have erupted in a costly and divisive fight over management of private forests. In addition to memorializing the Private Forest Accord and facilitating a mediated process to explore further changes to Oregon’s Forest Practices Act, SB 1602 increased drinking water protections through changes to helicopter herbicide applications on forestland that went into effect in 2021, including implementation of the first ever electronic notification system for real-time communication of applications to neighbors, new reporting requirements, and increased buffers for homes, schools, drinking water intakes and streams.

More Information

Press releases

News Stories

Opinion/Editorial pieces

Legislative Hearings

  • House floor session, March 3, 2022 – passed SB 1501: 43-15
  • House floor session, March 3, 2022 – passed SB 1502: 55-2
  • Senate floor session, March 2, 2022 – passed SB 1501: 22-5
  • House Revenue, March 2, 2022 – Work session on SB 1502
  • House Revenue, March 1, 2022 – Public hearing on SB 1502
  • Senate floor session, February 28, 2022 – passed SB 1502: 25-0
  • Joint Ways and Means Committee, February 26, 2022 – Work session on SB 1501
  • Joint Ways and Means Subcommittee on Capital Construction, February 25, 2022 – Work session on SB 1501
  • House Environment and Natural Resources, Feb 16, 2022 – Informational hearing on the Private Forest Accord
  • Senate Finance and Revenue Feb 16, 2022 – Public hearing on SB 1502
  • Senate Natural Resources and Wildfire Recovery, Feb 8, 2022 – Work session on SB 1501 and SB 1502
  • Senate Natural Resources and Wildfire Recovery, Feb 3, 2022 – Public hearing on SB 1501 and SB 1502
  • Senate Natural Resources and Wildfire Recovery, Feb 1, 2022 – Informational hearing on SB 1501 and SB 1502
  • House Interim Committee On Environment and Natural Resources – Nov 15, 2021 – Informational meeting on the Private Forest Accord
  • Senate Interim Committee On Natural Resources and Wildfire Recovery – Nov 15, 2021 – Informational meeting on the Private Forest Accord

Submitted testimony in support of the Private Forest Accord legislation

Webinars

Deal would overhaul private forest management in Oregon

By

October 30, 2021

**This story originally published via the Associated Press

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — An agreement has been reached between timber and environmental groups to overhaul management of 10 million acres of private forestlands in Oregon.

Oregon Public Broadcasting reports the deal, announced Saturday by Gov. Kate Brown’s office, concludes more than a year of negotiations to develop a plan to boost protections for vulnerable fish and wildlife while shielding the timber industry’s ability to log.

Friday was the deadline for both sides to either reach consensus, abandon the process or move the deadline.

“Today’s historic agreement is a perfect example of the Oregon Way –– coming together at the table to find common ground, to the mutual benefit of us all,” Brown said in a statement. Jim James with the Oregon Small Woodlands Association similarly praised the compromise.

“We were able to put down the contentious situations that we’ve had in the past and we had a continuous agreement to move forward,” James said.

Speaking on behalf of the timber coalition, Adrian Miller with the Florida-based forest products company Rayonier said Saturday’s agreement gives timber operators a sense of security going forward.

“I think we’re all really proud to be part of a new era of forestry in Oregon,” Miller said.

In 2020, the sides each planned a series of competing ballot measures that could have turned into a costly political fight.

Environmental groups sought strict limits on spraying of aerial pesticides and improved protection for forest waters. Meanwhile, the timber industry sought compensation for private landowners when state regulations limited their ability to log.

Brown instead pushed for the two sides to negotiate.

Representatives from the timber industry and environmental groups were charged with setting terms to pursue a statewide habitat conservation plan to safeguard fish, wildlife and water quality. A habitat conservation plan, or HCP, is a tool that allows practices like logging or irrigation to continue while minimizing damage to wildlife habitat.

Saturday’s deal sets in motion what could be a lengthy, possibly yearslong process to craft, approve and adopt an HCP into law and begin implementation.

“There’s no doubt that there’s gonna be challenges ahead,” said Sean Stevens, executive director of the conservation group Oregon Wild. “But I do think that this agreement provides a different sort of foundation than we’ve ever had before for tackling those challenges ahead.”

The next step will be to introduce a bill in the Oregon Legislature to make significant changes to the Forest Practices Act to protect riverbanks and streamsides, improve forest roads and allow for adaptive management of private forests.

Then the state will pursue an HCP, which will require a rulemaking process overseen by the Oregon Board of Forestry. After that, state leaders can pitch the plan to federal regulators.

Opinion: Timber, environmental interests’ collaborative problem-solving deserves Oregonians’ support

By

By: Arnie Roblan and Caddy McKeown | The Oregonian | Feb. 7, 2021

Roblan, a Democrat from Coos Bay, represented District 5 in the Oregon Senate from 2013 until last month. McKeown, a Democrat from Coos Bay, represented District 9 in the Oregon House from 2013 until last month.

This opinion originally appeared in The Oregonian.

Oregonians are well-versed in the story of our state’s decades-old battle between the timber industry and environmentalists. Books have been written about it. University seminars are given on it. As longtime legislators, we had front-row seats to years of tense hearings with heated testimony on controversial forest policy bills. These issues are extremely emotional and divisive, sometimes fueling opposition in the form of tree sitting, massive rallies on the Capitol steps and other public protests.

We are encouraged and optimistic that those days are behind us. As Henry Ford once said, “Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success.”

Last February, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced a groundbreaking agreement between 13 timber and forest products entities and 13 environmental organizations. Known as the Private Forest Accord, this collaborative environmental effort is moving forward in lieu of the divisive ballot measures, litigation and contentiouslegislation of the past. The signatories of the accord pledged to work together on proactive legislation and explore if common ground exists to support recommended changes to forest practices that have long divided them.

Even during a global pandemic and a horrific wildfire season, the group has stuck together and made significant progress. During a special session in June, the Legislature passed Senate Bill 1602 with nearly unanimous bipartisan support in both legislative chambers, and the bill was signed into law by the governor in July. SB 1602, which was crafted with the help of timber and environmental leaders, codified the historic agreement and created a set of significant reforms to the Forest Practices Act. These new laws restrict helicopter applications of pesticides on forestland with new protections for homes, schools and drinking water, and created a new, first-in-the-nation real-time neighbor notification and reporting requirement. We are proud to have championed that bill. All Oregonians should be proud of this accomplishment and the admirable spirit of collaboration that made it possible.

Now is the time to build on that success. Last month Gov. Brown announced the appointment of experienced mediator Peter Koehler, Jr., to facilitate further dialogue about new protections for sensitive aquatic species on private forestland, which could be formalized in a statewide Habitat Conservation Plan. Negotiations began in earnest this month, and we have high hopes for the outcome.

These negotiations over the next few months will not be easy, but the success of SB 1602 demonstrates the promise of a thoughtful, collaborative process for change that Oregonians deserve, rather than the divisive battles of the past.

Importantly, the Legislature needs to support this momentous opportunity and give the signatories the space necessary to grow and carry out what was set in motion last February. It is time to hold off on legislation that fuels a polarizing debate over Oregon forest policy, and instead support the arena for collaborative compromise. Legislative leaders from both parties should endorse this effort and help ensure its success by tabling traditionally polarizing issues and debates.

While we do believe it is imperative the Legislature address the recent megafires in our forests that have devastated our communities, solutions should focus on federal lands and can be discussed without disrupting the Private Forest Accord. In the past decade, 86% of the forested acres that have burned in Oregon were on federal lands.

The opportunity for a better way and a new day for Oregon forest policy is before us. A new paradigm—something we’ve never seen before in our careers as legislators—is taking shape, and it deserves every chance to succeed.

The Legislature and all Oregonians should join us in embracing this new collaborative approach.

Timber compromise bill triggers negotiations, spray restrictions

By

By Mateusz Perkowski | Capital Press | July 1, 2020

**This story originally appeared in the Capital Press, see that story here. 

Potential changes to Oregon’s forestry laws will be negotiated over the next 18 months now that lawmakers have passed a compromise bill between timber and environmental interests.

However, stricter notification requirements for helicopter spray operations and enhanced no-spray buffers around schools and streams are set to become effective as early as next year, even before additional revisions are hammered out.

Timber companies and environmental groups struck a deal earlier this year to pass the bill rather than try to persuade voters to pass competing ballot initiatives about forestry regulations. The timber industry feared the environmental proposals would have reduced logging on private lands by 25% by acreage.

However, the previous compromise bill died earlier this year when Republican lawmakers walked out of the Legislature rather than vote on controversial climate legislation that was strongly opposed by natural resource industries.

During the special session that concluded on June 26, though, the compromise was revived as Senate Bill 1602 and passed the House and Senate with overwhelming majorities.

Under the legislation, a landowner or timber operator must provide notification of a planned helicopter pesticide operation the day before spraying begins, down from about two weeks under current law.

Interested parties will learn of the spray operations through the Oregon Department of Forestry’s forest activity electronic reporting and notification system, known as FERNS.

Aside from this change, the operator must also initially provide the agency with a shorter 90-day window for when the treatment might occur, down from the current year, and complete additional post-application reporting requirements.

Spray operations in the forest are prone to being called off and rescheduled because they can only occur in narrow wind, temperature and humidity conditions, said Richard Zabel, executive director of the Western Forestry and Conservation Association.

“When you can’t spray, you’re essentially starting all over again,” Zabel said.

Similar notification requirements were opposed during past legislative sessions by the timber industry, which criticized them as being impractical and causing unnecessary anxiety among neighboring landowners.

Previously, technology didn’t exist that could efficiently provide such remote notification, said Greg Miller, representative of the timber companies involved in the compromise.

In 2020, “we found a way to get to yes” in light of technological advancements that “while still untested” are ready to be implemented at the Oregon Department of Forestry “and we hope that the notification reduces safety concerns for all involved,” Miller said in an email.

The new notification requirements would become effective on July 1, 2021 unless the Department of Forestry determines its system lacks the capacity at that point, in which case the agency would have another year to implement it.

New no-spray buffer regulations under SB 1602 will become effective even earlier, on Jan. 1, 2021.

Buffers around certain streams that are currently as narrow as 20 feet will increase to 75 to 100 feet, depending on stream type, while the buffers around schools and homes will increase from 60 to 300 feet under the bill.

While Oregon’s commercial forests don’t have many buildings compared to other land uses, the law also prohibits spraying within 300 feet of points of diversion for drinking water, which will probably be more consequential, said Mike Cloughesy, director of forestry for the Oregon Forest Resources Institute.

“There are a lot more water take-outs than there there are schools,” Cloughesy said.

Though much of SB 1602 imposes conditions on forestry operations, it also contains penalties for interfering with aerial herbicide spraying, with penalties of up to $5,000 for the “use of force, violence or action that impedes a pesticide application by helicopter to forestland.”

Interference doesn’t include “photography, videotaping, audiotaping or other creation of an electronic record” by someone on public property or private property where they’re allowed.

Oregon forest deal still alive, timber companies, environmentalists say

By

By Pete Danko | Portland Business Journal | Apr 2, 2020

** This story originally appeared in the Portland Business Journal. See that story here.

The big agreement between environmental groups and the forest industry that was waylaid by the Republican legislative walkout — remember that? — is still on.

Gov. Kate Brown put out the word in a news release Tuesday, wedged into a steady stream of announcements related to the COVID-19 response.

The parties had agreed in February on a process to develop forest-practice regulations that industry can live with while meeting federal standards to protect threatened and endangered species, including salmon.

As part of the memorandum of understanding, each side said it would drop competing initiative petitions once the 2020 Legislature passed a bill to create an aerial pesticide spraying notification system and buffer zones around homes, schools and water sources.

But Republicans blew up the Legislature with their opposition to a cap and trade bill, and the pesticide bill didn’t pass.

There was talk that it could be quickly included in a special session, but the pandemic soon became all-consuming.

Nonetheless, the signatories reaffirmed to Brown they will still move to withdraw the initiatives, which might have faced a signature-gathering challenge anyway, given restrictions on public activities. In a March 25 letter released by the governor’s office Tuesday, they wrote:

The MOU envisions coordinated actions by signatories, the Governor’s office, the Board of Forestry, and – importantly – the Legislature. We remain very committed to meeting the terms of the MOU, including legislation, at the nearest possible time that circumstances related to the coronavirus pandemic allow.

Given our mutual commitment to the key elements of the MOU, and also recognizing the priorities of Oregon at this time, we will make efforts to assist the respective petitioners with the formal withdrawal of the competing ballot measures.

Governor Kate Brown Announces Continued Agreement on Science-Based Forest Management

By

By Governor Kate Brow’s Office | March 31, 2020

**This press release originally appeared on the Governor’s website. See that release here.

Timber and environmental groups reinforce their commitment to February pact brokered by Governor Brown

Salem, OR—Governor Kate Brown today issued the following statement on receiving a reaffirmation of commitment from forest industry and environmental groups to work together on a science-informed policy development process related to forest practice laws and regulations.

In February, the signatories to the original memorandum of understanding agreed to drive a process to update the state’s timber practices balancing habitat and working in the woods, with the mutual goals of meeting the standards of endorsement from federal wildlife agencies; passing legislation on aerial spraying of pesticides to enhance spray buffer zones and notification practices; expanding stream buffers for salmon, steelhead, and bull trout streams; and sustaining Oregon’s critical forest products industries. Both sides agreed to drop all forestry-related initiative petitions and related litigation after passage of updated legislation addressing the areas of contention.

“Two short months ago, with the goal of creating a better future for Oregon, the state’s forest industry and major environmental groups were able to find common ground in a historic collaboration,” said Governor Brown. “Since then, all of our daily lives have changed dramatically, as our state has been dealing with the spread of COVID-19. Right now, my top priority is the safety and health of Oregonians. I am doing everything in my power to slow the spread of the virus and protect our front-line workers to keep people safe.

“Now we’re going to need to work together more than ever. I am pleased to have the partnership of industry and advocates to achieve the original goals of the memorandum of understanding, including legislation, as soon as circumstances allow for this very important work to resume.

“I, too, remain committed to our collective goals and to the long-term health of our state. Oregonians want healthy forests and fish, a vibrant forest sector, and prosperous rural communities, and I appreciate the continued collaboration to make this happen.”

Menu