FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Senate Committee Comes to Central Oregon to Hear Testimony on Wyden Forest Bill

Conservationists and timber industry testify in support of forest restoration and protection legislation

Senator Wyden hosts field hearing, listens to all sides in eastern Oregon forest legislation compromise.

AMERICAN FOREST RESOURCE COUNCIL * BOISE CASCADE * COLLINS PINE COMPANY * DEFENDERS OF WILDLIFE * THE LARCH COMPANY * NATIONAL CENTER FOR CONSERVATION SCIENCE AND POLICY * THE NATURE CONSERVANCY * OCHOCO LUMBER COMPANY * OREGON WILD

Contact:
Tim Lillebo – Eastern Oregon Wildlands Advocate, Oregon Wild (503.709.5685)
Tom Insko – Inland Region Manager, Boise Cascade (541.962.2001)
Russ Hoeflich – Vice President and Oregon Director, The Nature Conservancy (503.802.8100)

The consensus effort to protect and restore eastern Oregon’s forests took center stage in central Oregon today as U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) chaired a field hearing on his Oregon Eastside Forest Restoration, Old-Growth Protection and Jobs Act (S.2895). Conservationists, timber industry representatives, and forest scientists testified in support of the legislation that aims to end decades of controversy over the management of 8.3 million acres of eastern Oregon national forest land.

Senator Wyden’s legislation builds on common ground reached between conservationists and the timber industry and would protect and restore old growth forests and encourage the active, science-based restoration of the national forests in eastern Oregon. The legislation recognizes mechanical treatment is an important tool in improving forest health, protecting old growth, and restoring watersheds east of the Cascades. The legislation is the product of months of discussions among conservationists, timber industry leaders, and Senator Wyden’s staff aimed at protecting and restoring old-growth and creating jobs by providing logs to local mills.

(See below for more details on the legislation)

Statements from those who testified at hearing:

Tom Insko, Inland Region Manager with Boise Cascade
“Our company, which employs approximately 570 workers in Union and Umatilla counties, is pleased to support Sen. Wyden’s bill which offers potential solutions to the federal forest health crisis and management roadblocks in eastern Oregon.  Management of these forests is vital to the future of our company and our communities.”

Randi Spivak, Vice President for Government Affairs at the National Center for Conservation Science and Policy
“For years, the best available science has told us of the great importance of old-growth forests. Never before has a piece of legislation offered such a far-reaching solution to protecting and restoring eastern Oregon’s public forests. That we can support local communities with jobs provided by restoration thinning and watershed restoration is icing on the cake.”

Russ Hoeflich, Vice President and Oregon Director of The Nature Conservancy
“We applaud Senator Ron Wyden for his leadership in directing energy and resources to landscape-scale forest and stream restoration in Eastern Oregon. His bill will put people to work restoring healthy forests, protect old growth and riparian areas, and provide a model for how local communities can achieve solutions through collaboration and sound science.”

Details of the Oregon Eastside Forest Restoration, Old Growth Protection and Jobs Act

The proposed Oregon Eastside Forest Restoration, Old Growth Protection and Jobs Act (S.2895) applies to National Forest System lands within Oregon not covered by the Northwest Forest Plan. In all, the legislation will set new management priorities on six National Forests covering approximately 8.3 million acres of federal public land. The terms of the bill call for enhanced conservation of old-growth forests, watershed protection, a significant increase in the number of acres receiving treatment, and a clear recognition of the need to retain the remaining forest products industry to accomplish forest restoration and fire risk reduction. Meanwhile, supporters expect the new legislation to dramatically increase the pace of forest and watershed restoration in eastern Oregon.

Specifically, the bill makes existing protections for trees larger than 21 inches in diameter permanent, while also establishing a science-based exceptions process. In addition, the bill creates a science advisory panel that will draw upon the best available science to develop restoration guidelines for management activities carried out under the Act. The legislation also addresses watershed protection and restoration. It would preclude the building of new permanent roads in the area covered by the legislation except where realignment would improve the health of the forest or the watershed.

The legislation’s centerpiece is a requirement that the Forest Service begin planning landscape-level restoration projects that will improve forest and watershed health. These plans, which could encompass tens of thousands of acres, will seek to minimize the risk of fire to communities and forests by restoring natural fire regimes, maintaining historic forest conditions, protecting and enhancing fish and wildlife habitat, and making forests more resilient to climate change.

The long-range plans are expected to result in science-based restoration projects which will increase the volume of sawlogs available to timber mills in eastern Oregon, and to provide increased certainty of timber supply in both the short and long terms, and help offset the costs of management work.

The legislation also calls for interim projects pending the implementation of landscape level restoration projects. These interim projects will address immediate concerns about forest health and help to sustain the remaining milling and skilled logging infrastructure through a significant increase in acres treated, predominantly through mechanical treatment.

Read the full text of the legislation here: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:S.2895

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