AOC is frequently asked for information regarding the various county related policy groups within Oregon that focus on federal and state land management. In total there are six. Below you will find details about each group.

Association of Oregon Counties Public Lands and Natural Resources Steering Committee
One of nine AOC steering committees that study, discuss, and recommend policy direction to the AOC Legislative Committee is the Public Lands and Natural Resources Steering Committee (PLNR). The portfolio of this committee includes public forest lands and related forestry issues. By virtue of being a member of an Oregon county governing body, a commissioner or judge is also a member of this, or any other, AOC steering committee.

The PLNR Committee focuses on:
• Influencing proposed state legislation as recommended by the committee and approved by the AOC Legislative Committee.
• Pursuing federal forest health and active management, and “bridge payments” to counties.
• Institutionalizing “early and often communication” between individual agencies and county governing bodies when public lands and natural resource actions are contemplated.
• Involvement in revisions of rules and management plans of the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.

The PLNR Committee is guided by AOC Natural Resources Principles available at the AOC website. The Public Lands budget, which supports this committee, shares 50/50 with the AOC General Fund the travel expenses of the two Oregon representatives on the National Association of Counties (NACo) Western Interstate Region (WIR) Board of Directors and the AOC Executive Director for attendance at WIR meetings. The two funds are also equal payers of the annual WIR dues.

The Public Lands dues formula has three parts. There is a base amount generated from each county to ensure benefits to counties statewide by AOC natural resources activities. The remainder is allocated 60 percent based on national forest receipts or the substituted extended payments and 40 percent based on federal Payments-in-Lieu-of-Taxes (PILT). Each county’s share of the assessment is proportional to the amount of revenues received from each source. This includes a cap that no county can be assessed more than 15 times the lowest county assessment.

This budget contains the Natural Resources (NR) Reserve funding mechanism, approved by the AOC membership in 1994. The NR Reserve is available for expenditures on a project-by-project basis for highly specialized expertise on natural resources policy issues of importance to counties. Expenditures must be approved by the PLNR Committee and the AOC Board of Directors. Assessments are made under the Public Lands budget formula. The funding mechanism operates to assess automatically $10,000 per year as part of the Public Lands dues until the reserve reaches $40,000, where it is to date.

Note: Current committee co-chairs: Commissioner Susan Roberts, Wallowa County and Commissioner Simon Hare, Josephine County.

Association of Oregon Counties Forest Management Subcommittee
The AOC Forest Management Subcommittee was established in 1999 as a voluntary program. The subcommittee focuses on addressing select forest management issues, approved by the Public Lands & Natural Resources (PLNR) Committee, which affect the availability of national forest receipts for county roads, as well as resource policies affecting the long-term vitality of forest ecosystems and forest-dependent communities.

The subcommittee has its own governing body selected from the 31 national forest counties divided into six districts and includes as voting chairs the PLNR Committee co-chair(s) and the president of the O&C Counties Association. Its dues are based on relative national forest receipts or substituted extended payments.

In recent years, the subcommittee has primarily operated as the Oregon counties’ spearhead on issues related to extension of federal forest payments and more active and productive management of federal forestlands, which benefit the 31 national forest and 18 O&C counties. Recent work plans continue the direction of implementing AOC Resolution 2012-L2 (September 10, 2012) to the Oregon congressional delegation thanking them for their successful reauthorization of federal forest payments, but asking them to seek another extension (“bridge funding”) only if it will be part of a broader long-term solution to federal forest management.

A new feature of the subcommittee is adoption on February 1, 2016, of bylaws, which call for an annual meeting (the first of which was held at the 2016 AOC Annual Conference) and election at the annual meeting of the six district members of the board of directors by the counties represented by each district. The bylaws also impose a more precise annual assessment of dues.

The subcommittee budget has been used to work with other stakeholders on legislation that can gain wide enough support on federal forest management reform to have a decent chance of passage; continue the strategic partnership with the NACo, which has clear direction in its platform to promote active federal forest management solutions; and engage in a campaign, along with other complimentary campaigns, to gain appropriate legislation.

Note: Current subcommittee board of directors: Tri-Chairs Commissioner Tim Freeman, Douglas County, Commissioner Susan Roberts, Wallowa County, and Commissioner Simon Hare, Josephine County. District 1 to 6 representatives are vacant at this writing.

Council of Forest Trust Land Counties
The Council of Forest Trust Land Counties (CFTLC) was created within AOC to represent the interests of the 15 Oregon counties that transferred forest lands to the State to be administered as state forests by the Department of Forestry under the Forest Acquisition Program. The transfers of these forest lands were undergirded by the historical understanding that the focus of management is to be on revenues for counties and production of wood products. Revenues from these forests are shared under a statutory formula.

Under its bylaws, CFTLC is governed by a seven-member board of directors, which includes the non-voting chair and vice chair and five voting members who represent one or more of the forest trust land counties by position. Assessments are based upon comparative acreages by county apportioned in the by-laws by a dues formula. CFTLC counties are Benton, Clackamas, Clatsop, Columbia, Coos, Douglas, Josephine, Klamath, Lane, Lincoln, Linn, Marion, Polk, Tillamook and Washington.

CFTLC has a history of engagement in the judicial, executive and legislative branches when needed to protect the historical interests of the 15 counties.

Note: Current CFTLC board of directors: Commissioner Tim Josi (Chair), Tillamook County; Commissioner Faye Stewart (Vice Chair), Lane County; Commissioner David Yamamoto (District 1), Tillamook County; Commissioner Kathleen Sullivan (District 2), Clatsop County; Commissioner Andy Duyck (District 3), Washington County; Commissioner Will Tucker (District 4), Linn County; Commissioner Bob Main (District 5), Coos County.

The Association of O&C Counties
The Association of O&C Counties (AOCC) is committed to the social and economic well-being of our communities, and the health and productivity of federal “O&C” forest lands. AOCC advocates for sustained yield management of the O&C forests, as required by federal law under the O&C Act, to protect and support jobs and local economies, essential public services, and healthy resilient forests.

AOCC represents counties in western Oregon that host 2.1 million acres of timberlands once privately owned as part of a grant in exchange for construction of a railroad in the late 1800s, but were returned to federal ownership in 1916. The “O&C” part of our name is a reference to the “Oregon & California Railroad lands” that are, despite the name, located exclusively in 18 counties in western Oregon.

The AOCC was formed in 1925 as an advocate for the Oregon communities with strong local interest in how the O&C lands are managed. Advocacy by the AOCC resulted in legislation in 1926 and again in 1937 with passage of the O&C Act that is still the governing law guiding management of the O&C lands today. The AOCC has been active in all legislation and all administrative actions regarding the management of these lands for the last 90 years—a testament to the importance of these lands to the health and well-being of our communities.

Note: Current AOCC Board of Directors: Commissioner Tim Freeman (President), Douglas County;  Commissioner Simon Hare (Vice President), Josephine County; Commissioner Craig Pope (Sec. Treas.), Polk County; Commissioner Sam Brentano, Marion County; Commissioner Tim Josi, Tillamook County; Commissioner Bob Main, Coos County; Commissioner Colleen Roberts, Jackson County; Commissioner Kelley Minty Morris, Klamath County; Commissioner Faye Stewart, Lane County; Commissioner Henry Heimuller, Columbia County; Commissioner Stan Primozich, Yamhill County.

Eastern Oregon Counties Association
The genesis of the Eastern Oregon Counties Association (EOCA) was a partnership formed in 2006 by eastern Oregon Counties to formally address the plan revisions of the Blue Mountains National Forests (Malheur, Wallowa-Whitman and Umatilla). The counties approved a budget and contracted with specialized professional staff (Mason, Bruce & Girard).

The federal process continues, but in the meantime the counties assumed a broader role to address other federal issues that concerned these counties. By an intergovernmental agreement and bylaws, signed December 31, 2013, Baker, Grant, Harney, Malheur, Union and Wallowa counties became the Eastern Oregon Counties Association, with a six-member board of directors, including a chair and vice chair. Each member county has a seat on the board and appoints its own board member. Later, Deschutes and Umatilla counties joined, growing the board to eight seats. The EOCA budget is funded by 1.5 percent of the federal PILT payments made to each member county. The budget retains Mason, Bruce & Girard and contracts for federal lobbying services.

The EOCA has engaged in the Blue Mountains plan revisions, federal PILT funding, federal land management legislation, sage grouse habitat designation, and other federal issues that directly effect its members.

Note: The current EOCA chair: Commissioner Steve McClure, Union County.

Central Oregon Cohesive Strategy Initiative
The Cohesive Strategy provides a solid framework for making meaningful progress towards three goals – Restoring Resilient Landscapes, Fire Adapted Communities and Safe & Effective Wildfire Response. Methods include collaboration to manage vegetation and fuels, protect homes and communities, manage human-caused ignitions, and safely effectively and efficiently responding to wildfire.

Stakeholders in Central Oregon now appreciate a solid platform from which to advance current collaborative philosophies and efforts and integrate them under one umbrella for increased success (the notion of “bigger, better, safer and faster”) across jurisdictions. The collective ambition is to bring federal, state, tribal and local agency stakeholders together with interested non-governmental organizations and private landowners across five counties – Deschutes, Jefferson, Klamath, Lake and Crook – to achieve meaningful progress towards resilient landscapes, fire adapted communities and a safe and effective wildland fire response using the Cohesive Strategy as guidance.

More than just successfully implementing the Cohesive Strategy, this coordinated, collaborative multi-county project aims for recognition as a “regional learning laboratory” for others to either replicate and/or utilize valuable lessons learned to create similar successful environments throughout the western United States.

This level of integration, coordination and collaboration requires the following:
• Share and implement the purpose of their efforts.
• To collaboratively implement the Cohesive Strategy through an “all hands –all lands” approach across five counties.
• Provide the “regional learning laboratory” for success for the Pacific Northwest and other areas in the west.
• Prioritized landscape treatments across jurisdictions.
• Increased, collective investments for these projects.
• Continue to identify and leverage resources among all stakeholders.

Note: The National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy, developed and coordinated by the Wildland Fire Leadership Council (WFLC), is an “all-hands-all lands” strategic approach to restore and maintain the nation’s landscapes. Established in 2002, WFLC is a sweeping intergovernmental committee, which includes federal land management agencies, National Governors Association, NACo, National League of Cities, Intertribal Timber Council, and National Association of State Foresters. NACo has been represented by Lake County Commissioner Dan Shoun. The National Action Plan it produced has regional strategies. The Western Regional Strategy Committee is coordinated by Katie Lighthall, who issues periodic reports shared among members of the AOC PLNR Committee.

Contributed by: Gil Riddell | AOC Policy Director