Petition seeks O&C overview by county
A petition requesting that the Josephine County Board of Commissioners adopt a plan for the use of local timber resources was presented to the board during its Wednesday morning, July 25 regular session.
The petition was presented in Anne Basker Auditorium in Grants Pass by Jim Frick, a broker with Century 21 Harris & Taylor. Frick serves as chairman for Southern Oregon Resource Alliance (SORA), a non-profit citizens group that Frick explained is devoted to the sustainability of forests and the local economy.
Frick reminded the commissioners that the federal government owns most of the land in Josephine County. As such, he said, a local resource management plan should include an obligation for good stewardship and recreation.
State and federal agencies could work with the county in order to implement a plan, Frick said. And a citizen resource advisory committee could be appointed to aid in that coordination, he added.
The federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is scheduled to release its Western Oregon Plan Revision (WOPR) on Thursday, Aug. 9. That revision was due to the 2003 settlement of a lawsuit brought by the American Forest Resource Council. The suit alleged that the Northwest Forest Plan violated the O&C Lands Act of 1937 and numerous other laws.
Any decisions resulting from WOPR would directly affect the county and its finances, Frick said, so immediate action must be taken to preserve local interests.
“We want this done expeditiously,” Frick said.
While making his request, Frick held up a newspaper and read recent headlines regarding perceived lawlessness in Cave Junction and surrounding the recent Humbug Fire near the town of Applegate. Those conditions will continue if current management practices stay in place, Frick contends.
County board Chairman Jim Raffenburg said that the WOPR will be discussed during the Thursday, Aug. 9 meeting of the Josephine County Long Term Funding Citizens Task Force at 1:30 p.m. at Anne Basker
Auditorium in Grants Pass. The 20-member task force consists of representatives from local government, business, timber and environmental interests. Raffenburg is chairman, and Frick also is a member.
Merlin resident and land-use activist Holger Sommer took to the podium to criticize Frick.
“I think he’s part of the problem,” Sommer said. He opined that since the federal government owns the O&C lands, it should do as it sees fit.
“I don’t understand why the county should get in competition with the federal government,” Sommer said.
He went on to state that development drains the county of resources, and that local officials need to work with BLM and U.S. Forest Service on management issues.
Raffenburg responded that “this county has a great working relationship” with those federal agencies.
“They wholeheartedly encourage us to involve citizens in this process,” said the commission chairman.
Jack Swift stated that a decision on the alternatives proposed by BLM will be made in November, and that federal law contains a provision to allow coordination with local plans.
“I think we should take advantage of it,” Swift said.
Michael Kline challenged the concept of true federal ownership of O&C land.
“The idea that the federal government can do whatever it wants, I question,” Kline said. He added that logging, mining and other county resources “have been good for 150 years for revenue, development and jobs.”
Commissioner Dwight Ellis expressed his longstanding support for SORA and its efforts.
County board Vice Chairman Dave Toler said that “those resources can be part of the solution,” but that the county’s property tax rate remains too low to provide adequate services to residents.
“Those are the combined pieces that will make up the entire pie,” he said. Toler also said that local input is an important component of forestry issues.
Raffenburg said that he met with BLM officials in mid-July, and that environmental groups have notified that agency of their intention to seek injunctions to halt WOPR implementation.
However, Raffenburg noted that members of Cave Junction-based Siskiyou Project and other environmental groups are on the Josephine County Long Term Funding Citizens Task Force. It is looking at long-term solutions to the county’s funding problems, and seeks to achieve it through a balance of preservation and resource use of federal land in the county.
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