The largest, most extensive program at the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) is the Fire Protection Division, which provides wildfire protection on approximately 16 million acres of private and publicly owned lands. Every county but one (Sherman) has at least a portion of their land within an ODF Fire Protection District, and to help establish where those protection districts are located, Oregon’s counties play a critical role. However, by 2026, 33 of Oregon’s 36 counties will no longer have timely classifications on file.
Oregon forestland classification is the statutorily mandated process by which a county-convened committee studies the lands within their jurisdiction to determine which parcels are “forestlands” for the purposes of wildfire protection.
Landowners within an ODF district who are receiving wildland fire protection pay the forest patrol assessment. When the forestland classification process is conducted on a regular basis, it improves the accuracy and equity of the forest patrol assessments. Aiming to ensure the appropriate acres are being assessed at the appropriate rates for wildland fire protection, counties are expected to complete this process every five years. This timeframe was adopted by the Board of Forestry in 2010 to ensure changes in land use, vegetation, mapping technology improvements, and any errors from previous attempts are factored in, corrected, and accounted for.
Set to occur every five years, the forestland classification committee is composed of six individuals, which includes a representative from OSU Extension, Oregon State Fire Marshal, and ODF, as well as three individuals who reside within the county and are appointed by the county commissioners/county court. The county-appointed individuals must include an owner of forestland and (if present within the county) an owner of grazing land.
Forest landowners are required by law to provide protection from fire for their lands. However, instead of landowners having their own firefighting force, most private landowners use ODF or a local fire protective association to protect their lands. To fund this service, they pay the forest patrol assessment.
Counties can review when the last classification process occurred for their area and begin the process of meeting with the local ODF district staff to begin this classification process. ODF and the Association of Oregon Counties (AOC) will partner together this winter, following the conclusion of fire season, to strategize a plan to ensure all counties into compliance with the five-year cycle. More information regarding the forest land classification process can be found here.
As the citizens of Oregon continue to see assessments increase for a variety of reasons, the forestland classification process helps reduce the amount landowners pay for fire protection. If more lands are included through the classification process, the rate per acre paid by the landowner is reduced due to the total cost in that district being spread across more protected acres.
Photo credit: Gary Halvorson, Oregon State Archives
Contributed by: Branden Pursinger | Legislative Affairs Manager