By The Oregonian Editorial Board

The agreement this week that saved 80 to 90 jobs at Malheur Lumber Co. in John Day was a last-gasp, temporary solution to the problem of diminished forest-related jobs in eastern Oregon. Still, it is a significant victory.

The deal, announced Tuesday by U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley of Oregon, clears a short-term path. The U.S. Forest Service announced a plan to make more timber available from the Malheur National Forest and speed up restoration work, and Ochoco Lumber Co. in Prineville agreed to postpone the planned November closing of Malheur Lumber, its John Day sawmill.

The significance of the John Day mill goes beyond the jobs that were temporarily saved. The next closest sawmill is 112 miles away in Pilot Rock. If Malheur Lumber closes, not only will its workers have few options for new jobs, but the cost of cutting trees in the Malheur National Forest will increase because of added travel time.

Oregon's timber industry will never approach the harvest levels of the 1980s, but each mill closure reduces the industry's capacity -- already a fraction of capacity 20 years ago -- a little bit more. Because of its location, the John Day mill is crucial. Wyden, Merkley, U.S. Rep. Greg Walden of Oregon, and local and state officials championed the cause of the mill to help broker this week's deal.

The work of that coalition is one reason for optimism. Key political and industry leaders now comfortably occupy the middle ground in between those who long for the unrestrained harvests of three decades ago and those who prefer the forests to be shut down. The next goal, as expressed by Gov. John Kitzhaber in a prepared statement, is "to find solutions that will keep our vanishing mill infrastructure and jobs in place."

John Shelk, Ochoco's managing director, didn't offer an estimate of how long the John Day mill could survive in the wake of this week's deal. The company already had taken steps to adapt to lower-volume harvests with smaller trees, such as adding a pellet mill at the John Day facility about two years ago. What the mill needs now is a consistent supply of logs from the nearby national forest.

To ensure that Malheur Lumber survives more than a few more months, Oregon needs more say in the management of federal forests that make up the majority of the state's timberland, said Walden, a Republican whose district includes John Day.

Legislation proposed by Walden and U.S. Reps. Peter DeFazio and Kurt Schrader, both Democrats, to create public trusts to manage former Oregon & California Railroad lands would be one step in that direction. The proposal would give the state more control over forest management in those areas, a concept Walden favors beyond O&C lands.

Walden argues the state has earned the federal government's trust. "We have a really good record in Oregon of managing forests for today and tomorrow," he said.

It's uncertain how much can be done on this, or any other matter, in what promises to be a legislation-clogged lame-duck session after the election. And the viability of legislation would depend on yet-unveiled details. But small victories such as the one this week help keep alive a coalition that eventually could score bigger wins for Oregon's timber industry.

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