A Resolution Supporting the Use of Aerial Application of Herbicide on Forestland to Sustainably Meet Growing Global Demand for Renewable Wood Products
By The Oregon Logging Conference
February 22, 2018
WHEREAS, Oregon produces more softwood lumber and more softwood construction plywood than any other state in the nation, accounting for 17 percent of United States softwood lumber production and 29 percent of United States plywood construction.
WHEREAS, Oregon is a leader in producing cutting-edge, innovative engineered wood products like Cross-Laminated Timber currently powering a wood building revolution among architects and designers who are embracing the environmentally-friendly qualities of building tall commercial and multi-family buildings with wood.
WHEREAS, wood is part of the solution to climate change as the only major building material literally produced by the power of the sun, removing carbon from the atmosphere as it grows and locking it away for the life of the product, thereby creating carbon storage units all over the planet in the form of homes, buildings and other structures.
WHEREAS, wood produced in Oregon counts toward Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) certification as it comes from sustainably managed forests with some of the strictest environmental protections in the world, safeguarding water, fish and wildlife habitat, soil and air, and providing Oregonians with the highest quality drinking water of any land use in the state.
WHEREAS, in order to meet strict environmental standards of reforestation, aerial herbicide use is an effective and vital tool to control aggressive vegetation, including non-native, invasive weeds that compete with new tree seedlings for light, nutrients, water and space necessary to re-establish a vigorously growing new forest.
WHEREAS, aerial application is often the safest, fastest, most efficient and cost-effective way to apply herbicides, especially on remote, steep and rough forest terrain, and modern aerial application utilizes cutting-edge technology to guarantee areas such as waterways, neighbor boundaries, and other no-spray areas are adequately buffered and protected.
WHEREAS, forestry is only responsible for four percent of pesticide use in Oregon, and herbicides are typically only applied two to four times total in the first few years of a 40-60-year time frame to hold back invasive species and other vegetation.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Oregon Logging Conference go on record in support of the use of aerial application of herbicides on forestland to sustainably meet growing global demand for renewable wood products.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the regulatory authority for forest land herbicide use be vested with the Oregon Board of Forestry and not be subject to the initiative petition process.