Hot topics include damaging State Forest Division budget reductions for FY 2017
Contributed by: Gil Riddell, AOC Policy Director, Public Lands & Natural Resources Policy Manager
July 8, 2016
The Forest Trust Land Advisory Committee (FTLAC), the group of county commissioners created by statute to advise the Board of Forestry (BOF), State Forester, and Department of Forestry (ODF) on matters related to the State Forests/County Forest Trust Lands, met today to receive a briefing from ODF and to prepare comments for the BOF meeting July 20th. Topics on the FTLAC agenda drew Senator Betsy Johnson and the Governor’s Natural Resources Adviser Brett Brownscombe. FTLAC members are Commissioners Tim Josi, Craig Pope, Bill Baertlein, Lianne Thompson, Tony Hyde, Will Tucker, and Faye Stewart.
The FTLAC members are the Board of Directors of the Council of Forest Trust Land Counties (CFTLC), a committee within AOC consisting of commissioners of counties that transferred lands to the state largely under the Forest Acquisition Act to be managed as forestlands for growing and harvesting wood products to produce jobs, revenues, and environmentally sound forests. Revenues from production are shared with the trust land counties, the largest share of which goes to local schools.
Two topics of particular interest at the FTLAC meeting included:
Budget reductions to the State Forest Division of ODF for FY 2017. The Division is the manager of state forests, and with proper production is designed to be self-supporting. However, since the implementation of the current forest management plan the Division has been losing $2 million annually of revenues causing the projection that the Division will be operating in the red by about 2020. Liz Dent, Division Administrator, stated three goals of the planned $1 million reduction of the division budget of FY 2017 and later actions: short term to gain “breathing room” to push the zero balance of the Forest Development Fund (FDF) beyond 2020; mid-term to flatten the trajectory of resources in the FDF; and long term to gain resources for FDF.
The 2017 cuts will hurt workforce capacity, defer pre-commercial thinning, and defer reforestation. Ms. Dent described the budget reduction as “not sustainable”.
Two prominent variables are the defense of the Linn County class action law suit, which will be paid out of FDF, and ultimate determination of the Elliott State Forest, i.e., will it be sold or managed under contract.
ODF Policy Option Packages (POP) make asks for state general funds: this drove Senator Johnson to caution against the view that there will be general funds available. She added that ODF has the ability to raise its revenue, but the BOF through its decisions on state forest management has chosen not to.
FTLAC decided to support the POP related to state forests, but if it is not passed by the legislature, that ODF not make it up by cuts in forest management.