WHEREAS, forest lands owned and managed by the state of Oregon, including the Elliott, Tillamook and Clatsop State Forests, make up some 650,000 acres of the most productive timber land in the world;
WHEREAS, pursuant to constitutional, legal, and contractual obligations to the Common School Fund and to county forest trust land counties, timber production on these state forests provides badly needed revenue to public schools and to essential local government programs and services;
WHEREAS, despite these fiduciary obligations, annual timber harvests on these lands, due to a series of management plan constraints, are currently far below maximum sustained yield levels;
WHEREAS, sustainable annual timber harvest levels on the Elliott State Forest could be roughly doubled through a less conservative management plan, thereby providing a badly needed financial boost to the state’s Common School Fund;
WHEREAS, increasing timber harvests on the Tillamook and Clatsop State Forests just to the level projected in the state’s own conservative management plan at the time of its adoption by the Board of Forestry would provide tens of millions of dollars annually in additional revenue to northwest Oregon counties;
WHEREAS, in addition to enhanced revenues to schools and counties, increased timber harvesting on state forests would also create hundreds of badly needed jobs in timber dependent communities throughout western Oregon;
WHEREAS, the management standards of the Oregon Forest Practices Act fully protect water, air, fish and wildlife and other non-commodity resource values occurring on forest land, regardless of ownership;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, members of the Oregon Logging Conference request that the Oregon Board of Forestry and the State Land Board modify current management plans on state-owned forests in order to maximize sustained yield timber production, pursuant to the requirements of the Oregon Forest Practices Act.