Extending the 'Ponderosa Pine Branch' of Peace

Conservationists, timber industry come together over Wyden's eastern Oregon forest legislation.

It's not an olive branch being extended, but perhaps a Ponderosa pine branch. On Wednesday, Oregon environmental leaders and timber industry executives stood side-by-side in the nation's capital, joining Sen. Ron Wyden to announce new legislation to revive the Oregon timber industry with a more conservation-oriented approach to logging.

Wyden prodded the discussions along over the past year and will introduce new legislation that has the blessing of both sides, for managing the six national forests in Eastern Oregon. It focuses on protecting old-growth trees and streams, and logging more selectively to improve the health of the forests.

Steve Pedery, conservation director for Oregon Wild, was part of the negotiations.

"I'm not going to say we see eye-to-eye with the timber industry on everything, because we certainly don't. But, I think it's demonstrated to both sides that there really are opportunities to sit down and meet both sides' objectives."

The bill would create a scientific panel to monitor the outcome. In crafting the historic agreement, Pedery says there was more common ground than either side had expected.

"We were a little surprised on the environmental side of the table that the industry folks really weren't all that interested in logging old-growth Ponderosa pine anymore, either. They had a general consensus on their team that there's not a lot of that stuff left, and the public really doesn't want it logged. It was really, 'Yep, that's the right thing to do.'"

Eventually, the agreement and legislation are expected to end the cycle of expensive legal challenges to many of the timber sales on federal land. Pedery says it is not retroactive, however, so the fate of some sales would still be decided in court. If it becomes law and works well, he says a similar agreement might someday be forged for Western Oregon.