Sunday, January 29, 2012

In this highly charged, often nasty, political climate it takes no small amount of courage and trust to cross party lines to turn a crisis into a solution.

Congressmen Peter DeFazio, Greg Walden, and Kurt Schrader have shown their mettle by doing just that as they craft a solution to the O & C crisis - - for the benefit of Oregonians living in rural counties who have historically depended on timber harvest revenues from these lands to pay for vital community services.

The last federal check to Oregon's rural counties to help offset the loss in payments to timber-dependent counties was mailed January 19th. And sadly, these lands are still in a kind of limbo with a spotted owl forest management regime that gives conflicting and sometimes confusing direction when it comes to lands not protected for owl habitat.

These three Congressmen have seized on this crisis in an effort to address both problems - - an ambitious idea but definitely within reach. The plan satisfies ongoing concerns over the protection of old growth forests and also clarifies where sustained yield and timber harvesting is appropriate.

Under the proposal the last remaining mature and old growth forests - and thus the best habitat for listed species - of O & C lands would be turned over to the U.S. Forest Service for protective management, not to be commercially harvested. And lands that been harvested in the past that have the least ecological value would be managed to produce timber harvests on a sustained yield basis with suitably long growth cycles in some areas and subject to federal and state laws, and other forest management requirements. These lands would be placed in a trust to be managed for O & C counties.

The expected timber harvests would provide for the local timber infrastructure that supports rural communities and create an estimated 12,000 jobs. The prospect of new jobs in rural counties is more exciting than merely making the case for one more reauthorization of county payments.

The O & C measure would be attached to a larger bill being drafted by Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, Representative Doc Hastings (R WA) that deals with forest management in national forests. This bill, with active support from Representative Walden has a genuine chance of passage in the Republican-majority House.

What's needed when this legislation reaches the Senate is strong support and advocacy from Senators Wyden and Merkley - - at least for the O & C section. We are hopeful that the DeFazio/Walden/Schrader jobs creation measure makes it through the House but in order to achieve a lasting long range solution it will be necessary for Oregon's senators to also see that this is a crisis ripe to be converted into opportunity.

Michael Pieti is Executive Secretary - Treasurer of the Carpenters Industrial Council, a union representing lumber and wood products workers throughout Oregon.