Congress Eyes Plan To Ramp Up Oregon Timber Harvest

[NewThinkingChance40]

"Oregon's Congressional members are working on a plan that would dramatically increase logging on some federally-owned forest land in the southwest corner of the state. A House panel advanced a measure Wednesday that would allow increased timber harvests in struggling timber counties.

The bill is relatively small in scope -- it only applies to a couple of million acres of land formerly owned by a railroad company in southwest Oregon. But supporters say it's the trigger those communities need to break away from decades of economic decline.

Democratic Congressman Peter DeFazio represents part of the area that would benefit from the ramped-up logging. "We need jobs in these rural areas. We need a tax base or a revenue base for these counties. I'm not going to say this is the sweet spot. But it's at the moment the best I can do."

Here's how it would work: Much of the land would be turned over to a trust managed by the state of Oregon. It would then be free of certain federal environmental regulations. The measure would set aside some land for wilderness protection."

Full Story:
http://www.nwpr.org/post/congress-eyes-plan-ramp-oregon-timber-harvest

[The Straight Story]

1. Leave the trees and grow hemp instead, would create jobs

and keep the forest

[love_katz]

2. I agree with Straight Story...

leave the poor trees alone...they take many human life-times to regrow.

Hemp, however, would create a huge crop each year...and without the horrid disruption to what is part of the Earth's life support systems.

And, a simple respect for minorities ( uncut areas of forest are almost non-existent...too much of the PNW looks like a badly moth-eaten blanket, from just about any peak you might ascend) would dictate that we leave the trees alone.

Goddess, please forefend this kind of short sighted cutting of the trees, and please help us find sustainable ways to help communities support themselves. Boom-and-bust, gold-rush schemes are NOT the answer.

[The Straight Story]

3. I often have wondered at the ignorance of our government in such things

People have been saying this for years and it keeps getting ignore.

Of course, it maybe not be ignorance at all....

[love_katz]

4. Follow the money...

like always.

Plans that make sense don't even get a hearing, let alone used, because they will cost people with vested interests to lose $.

The fact that we have better options that will benefit all, instead of a favored few...well, we can't have that, can we?

[The Straight Story]

5. Ya know, it's funny

Said this before but worth repeating - many people were warning about the dot com bubble, then the housing and financial markets and regulation, the war in Iraq, etc and so on. And much of it seemed fairly common sense.

But the people in power never listened. Probably because the people pulling their strings knew they would make money.

[love_katz]

7. That's always what it is about...

more $ for the Greedy Old Pigs, who never seem to when enough is enough.

They don't care who they trample nor what they slaughter or destroy, and they will tell any lie, just so they can stuff their pockets with more.

[mick063]

6. The question is

how much of this is considered "old growth" forest land?

[love_katz]

8. It doesn't really matter.

Trees take many human life-times to grow, let alone reach 'maturity'. Do we short-lived beings really understand the life of a tree?

Hemp could provide us with plenty of paper, fiber for clothing and rope, and it could easily do this in a very short time.

Bamboo also could be planted and used...grows much faster, and is supposed to sequester many times more carbon than a regular forest...and we could leave the current forests standing.

But, that would not line the pockets of the wealthy and powerful.

[PufPuf23]

9. This could be a good thing or a bad thing, depends on the specifics and implementation

I assume these lands are the Oregon O&C lands.

http://www.blm.gov/or/rac/ctypayhistory.php

http://www.oregonwild.org/oregon_forests/old_growth_protection/westside-forests/Western%20Oregon%20BLM%20Backyard%20Forests/history-of-blm-and-o-c-lands

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_%26_C_Lands

They are forest lands managed by the BLM in the DOI rather than National Forests managed by the USFS in USDA.

Historically, they were subject to a greater intensity of logging and earlier and less regulated logging than nearby National Forests.

Harvest on the O&C Lands and National Forests have been greatly reduced because of the Northern Spotted Owl and Coho Salmon Endangered Species listings and various other environmental, political, and legal reasons since 1990 reasons. Most of the readily harvested stands are 2nd growth and would benefit from thoughtful thinning. There are also some stands that would benefit from regeneration or are best left alone for reasons of other resource values or difficult operability.

One reason for the collapse and boom and bust cycle of the timber industry is that mill investment return has been erroneously favored over long term value of the forest as a wood production entity not to mention other values.

O&C lands are primarily Douglas-fir stands and relatively highly productive. Many stands were established after earlier clear cuts and are of the age and size for thinning which were planned but has not occurred. Douglas-fir on its own follows a negative natural log of 3/2 thinning pattern as trees grow larger differentially. Commercial thinning reduces chance of catastrophic loss from fire or insects.
The sawmills and logging equipment would be different technology than what was common in the past. Thinning in Douglas-fir extends the life of stands and keeps more of the landscape in high forest cover. This means there is more carbon held on the site plus the carbon sequestered in solid wood products. Most people don't realize that there is a significant amount of carbon sequestered in the soil.

One could wager that in recent years the timber lost to wildfire in this region has approached that harvested for wood products in the past plus the fires tend to be more intense and damaging to the soil and other natural resources when the only pressure on the forest was by American Indians that often used more frequent and lesser intensity fire as a thinning and renewal tool that promoted wildlife and other vegetation vigor.

[The Straight Story]

10. Good find and worth looking at

thanks for the links!

[PufPuf23]

11. You are welcome! More like interesting article and easy search from my life experience.

The words are all off the top of my head and my own opinion wo/ getting too wordy or technical.

A fundamental problem in forest management is the vast majority of people do not have the eye to see or are in denial or short sighted regards to quality ecologically-based and economically sound forest management.