The Oregon Logging Conference Urges Governor Ted Kulongoski and the Oregon State Legislature to fund the Oregon Department of Forestry to implement sustainable Forest management on state owned forestlands like the Tillamook and Clatsop and to increase harvest levels from these lands to 329 million board feet per year.
WHEREAS, the Oregon Department of Forestry is one of the most efficient and well-managed of all state agencies in Oregon government.
WHEREAS, the State of Oregon state forest lands comprise an area of approximately 650,000 acres.
WHEREAS, State owned forest lands currently produce 176 million board feet of timber per year.
WHEREAS, the State forest lands are biologically capable of sustainably producing 493 million board feet of timber per year.
WHEREAS, the state’s own forest management plan promised to sustainably produce 279 million board feet per year
WHEREAS, increasing the annual harvest on State owned forest lands by 3 percent would sustainably produce 329 million board feet of timber per year.
WHEREAS, the State of Oregon state forest lands are a $5 billion asset that have the potential of providing an extra $107 million in timber receipts a biennium to Oregon schools and other programs based on a harvest level of 329 million board feet.
WHEREAS, increasing the harvest on State owned forest lands to the level mandated by the state’s own management plan for the Tillamook, Clatsop, and other state forest lands is a way to help schools, and assorted state and local programs, and aid in Oregon’s economic recovery.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, members of the Oregon Logging Conference request it to be a top priority of Governor Kulongoski and the 2004 State Legislature to provide adequate funding to the Oregon Department of Forestry to implement the state’s forest management plan and to direct the Board of Forestry to increase the timber harvest on state owned lands to a sustainable harvest level of 329 million board feet per year.