Bill would boost logging to help counties

But that is less than half the logging needed to fill a $35 million annual funding gap caused by the expiration of a federal safety net, Wyden’s office said.

Wyden’s bill would split the O&C lands in two, with half managed for timber production and half managed for conservation of old growth forests and fish and wildlife habitat.

The safety net made up for a steep decline in federal logging revenue that had been shared with counties after logging was cut by 90 percent on national forests in 1994 to protect salmon and the northern spotted owl.

Counties that relied on federal timber revenue have struggled to pay for jails and sheriff’s patrols as voters resisted tax increases.

Meanwhile, timber industry jobs declined through a combination of the logging cutbacks and automation.

“This approach will create a sturdier economic foundation for the O&C counties, centered on new middle-class jobs,” from loggers and millworkers to sheriff’s deputies and fishing guides, Wyden said in a statement.

He plans to introduce a companion bill to revive the safety net known as the Secure Rural Schools Act and payments in lieu of taxes.

Wyden’s bill comes on the heels of similar legislation by members of Oregon’s House delegation, which promises more timber but has brought a veto threat form the White House.

Both bills cover management of a patchwork of 2.1 million acres of federal lands in 18 Western Oregon counties that reverted to the federal government after the Oregon & California Railroad went bust.

Unlike U.S. Forest Service lands that share 25 percent of revenue with counties for roads and schools, the O&C lands share 50 percent, with no restrictions.

Unlike the House bill, Wyden’s bill would leave the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in charge, rather than turning over control to a trust that would manage it under state logging rules.

Wyden’s bill would expedite logging and reduce litigation by taking controversial old growth logging projects off the table, and adopting one environmental impact statement to cover 10 years of timber sales.

Wyden planned a news conference Tuesday in Salem with Gov. John Kitzhaber to discuss the plan.

Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., chief architect of the House bill, said in a statement he had not seen Wyden’s bill but looked forward to the Senate passing something that could be melded with the House bill to produce legislation that would be signed by the president.

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