WASHINGTON -- With the clock running and politics thickening, Oregon Reps. Greg Walden, Peter DeFazio and Kurt Schrader presented on Thursday details of their highly anticipated proposal to provide a steady source of revenue to rural counties.

 

"We believe we've crafted a solution that will provide sustainability for these counties ... sustainability and predictability to the timber industry, jobs in rural areas and permanent protection and sustainability for the environment," DeFazio said.

 

The plan would convert 1.5 million acres of Oregon and Califomia Railroad Grant, the so-called O&C lands, to a "public trust" that would be managed by a committee selected by the governor. The trust property would be managed for commercial purposes with some of the revenue going to counties for such critical local functions as education and law enforcement.

 

"Our total effort has been devoted to an O&C solution," DeFazio told reporters during a conference call to present the plan. " ... People on both sides should agree this is a reasonable solution."

 

The journey so far has been rocky. As DeFazio and Schrader were talking to reporters, the House Resources Committee was considering a separate bill to replace the timber payments program. Walden, DeFazio and Schrader had hoped to include their Oregon specific plan on that bill but differences with committee Chairman Doc Hastings, R-Wash., blocked that for now despite lengthy negotiations.

 

Both proposals aim to replace direct federal payments to counties that have been in place since 2000 that are politically unpopular in a Congress worried about federal spending.

 

"While a resolution could not be achieved in time for this markup," Hastings said, using the Capitol Hill term for amending a bill, "I remain committed to continue working with the Oregon delegation on a workable solution as this bill moves forward. It is important to seek a solution for all forest-dependent counties, including these Oregon lands.''

 

Yet even a breakthrough may not gain much. Hastings' bill is controversial and is unlikely to become law because opposition in the Senate is strong. 

 

Hastings’ bill would dramatically expand logging on Forest Service property with guarantees that revenue from timber sales would be 60 percent of the income collected during high production years. His bill would use the average of timber sales between 1980 and 2000 as the benchmark that must be met.

 

Hastings' bill would also streamline timber sales and dilute some environmental protections to allow additional logging. Democrats called it a "bad bill" and said the focus on production would doom hopes of finding a compromise that could keep money flowing to counties.

 

"This program is so important to rural communities ... we run the real risk that the program will not be renewed in time because of fights about federal land management," Rep. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., said.

 

Walden, DeFazio and Schrader say they've charted a middle course that allows additional production while also including environmental protections. Their plan also would bestow federal protection to several pristine areas in the state, including 93 miles of the Rogue River and 15 miles of the Molalla River.

 

Those gestures did not mollify some environmental groups, who say the plan would weaken protections and encourage excessive logging.

 

“To generate the money needed to bail out county budgets in western Oregon at current timber prices, Reps. DeFazio, Schrader, and Walden would need to increase logging on public BLM lands by 400 to 500 percent," Steve Pedrey, conservation director for Oregon Wild said. "The public won’t stand for that kind of rampant clear-cutting, and Congress knows it.  The House of Representatives seems more interested in posturing and creating false hope than in actually solving the problem.”

 

The three Oregon lawmakers are making the proposal available for public comment and said they would consider changes.

 

Among other things, the plan:

 

• Authorizes the governor to appoint members of the Board of Trustees within 60 days of enactment, including two representatives from the forestry/wood products industry, one representative of the general public, one representative of the science community, and three governmental representatives.
• Clarifies the O&C Trust lands will be managed in compliance with applicable federal and state laws in the same way they apply to private forest lands.
• Establishes short and long rotation requirements for the O&C Trust lands, including that 50 percent of the commercial O&C Trust lands be managed on a 100-120 year rotation.
• Prohibits exports of raw timber from the O&C Trust lands and imposes strong penalties on businesses that ship Oregon timber and jobs overseas.
• Requires all transferred lands to the Forest Service to be managed under the Northwest Forest Plan and retains Northwest Forest Plan land use designations.
• Prohibits the harvest of old growth.