TODAY, Oregon conservation organizations voiced strong concerns over the timing and content of Senator Ron Wyden’s latest O&C lands logging legislation. Oregon Wild and the Oregon Chapter of Sierra Club, together representing over 20,000 Oregonians, warned that in addition to opening over one million acres of public lands in Western Oregon to clearcut logging, the legislation opens the door for further weakening of safeguards for clean water, salmon, and wildlife at a time when the most anti-environmental Congress in history is about to take office.
"Senator Wyden has tied himself in knots trying to placate Tea Party politicians who want more clearcut logging without alienating pro-environment Senators," said Steve Pedery, Conservation Director of Oregon Wild. "The reality is that there is no amount of clearcutting the Senator can propose that would satisfy these politicians and their backers in the logging industry."
“Senator Wyden's legislation comes at a dangerous time for public lands across America,” continued Pedery. “This plan to provide funding to county politicians by aggressively logging our public lands will become the model for even worse legislation next Congress."
The O&C lands are public lands in Western Oregon that belong to all Americans, and are largely overseen by the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
Wyden's legislation is scheduled to be voted on during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee business meeting on November 13, 2014 that also includes a number of additional public lands bills.
"Logging corporations have dreamed of the day when they could dismantle the Northwest Forest Plan and return to aggressive clearcutting of America's public lands," said Rhett Lawrence with the the Oregon Chapter of Sierra Club. "The incoming Congress has already signaled its intent to gut America's safeguards, and Senator Wyden should not be paving the way for them by attempting to pass his O&C logging legislation."
Senator Wyden's bill would expand a form of clearcutting euphemistically referred to as "eco-forestry," or variable retention regeneration harvest, to more than a million acres of publicly-owned land in Western Oregon - including over 200,000 acres of National Forest lands that are not O&C lands. It would also eliminate the Northwest Forest Plan's system of protected old-growth and wildlife reserves on O&C lands and restrict the right of American's to challenge government logging programs. The stated goal of Wyden's legislation is to more than double logging levels, to more than 400 million board feed, in order to generate revenue to be directed to county politicians in Western Oregon that have been unable to balance their budgets.
In a change from previous versions, Senator Wyden's latest bill now also includes 50,000 acres of industrial clearcutting, an effort to further boost logging levels and payments to county politicians. This kind of logging is a throwback to aggressive clearcutting that has not been seen on America's public lands in the Northwest since the 1980's.
Oregon Wild released a briefing paper on the proposal. (PDF)
Oregon’s largest conservation groups believe a more sustainable approach to county funding is needed, based on shared responsibility between federal, state, and local authorities. A federal contribution, in the form of an extension of vital Secure Rural Schools legislation and expanded conservation-based thinning (as opposed to clearcutting) on federal lands, is reasonable and widely supported. At the state level, legislation is needed to address the rampant export of raw logs (and jobs) to China, and such a measure could generate important revenue to pay for county services like roads and law enforcement. Finally, O&C county governments, which currently receive the lowest local tax rates in Oregon, must get their own fiscal house in order through budget cuts and local revenue increases.
