A group of county commissioners representing Oregon counties where county land was transferred to the state to create state forests met on April 21st as the Forest Trust Land Advisory Committee (FTLAC).

The seven-member Board of Directors of the Council of Forest Trust Land Counties (CFTLC) operates as the FTLAC.  CFTLC represents the 15 counties that deeded their land to the state for purposes of growing harvesting, and sustaining forest land.  In return, these counties and the local taxing districts located there share revenue with the state resulting from harvest and other activities in the forests.  The FTLAC was created by statute in 1987 to advise the State Forester and Board of Forestry on matters in which counties may have a role related to forestland managed by the department.  The 15 counties are Benton, Clackamas, Clatsop, Columbia, Coos, Douglas, Josephine, Klamath, Lane, Lincoln, Linn, Marion, Polk, Tillamook, and Washington.

At the FTLAC meeting, State Forester Peter Daugherty gave his perspective on the coming biennium.

  • His focus will be on returning the State Forest Division to financial viability. Cutting more timber will help, but will not solve the problem. Rather, in terms of the Forest Management Plan (FMP) revision there are several interrelated challenges.
  • The current structure-based management approach does not perform consistently across the northwest forests. And when it works, it creates older forests that become occupied by threatened and endangered species, which drastically limit management options.
  • The land allocation approach appears to not solve the long-term financial viability challenge or meet conservation outcomes.
  • State Forests’ field managers will meet to gain common understanding and collective thinking on the range of constraints that each district faces and what could be modified in the FMP to best reduce those constraints. It is clear that different districts face different constraints and so a successful FMP revision needs to accommodate this diversity of challenges.
  • In the meantime, the Department of Forestry will explore the viability of a Habitat Conservation Plan as an option to the current and expensive “species take avoidance” approach.

FTLAC Chair Tim Josi, Tillamook County Commissioner, commenting on behalf of FTLAC to the Board of Forestry on April 26, stated that the Department and Board need to set up a timeline for the FMP revision and stick to it. The board has had plenty of information presented to it. The board should be able to make policy decisions without much additional analysis. Chair Josi added that the board will not find an answer that will increase both financial viability and conservation outcomes. Difficult policy trade-offs are inevitable.

Contributed by: Gil Riddell | AOC Public Lands & Natural Resources Policy Manager