BLM plan would raise harvests, county income
A plan that could result in a hefty timber harvest increase while adding jobs and revenue for Southwestern Oregon -- including Josephine County -- was unveiled by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
BLM officials presented the plan Thursday afternoon, Aug. 9 in Anne Basker Auditorium in Grants Pass to the Josephine County Long Term Funding Committee. Simultaneously, BLM conducted public announcements using the news media.
The federal agency will conduct an open house regarding its four alternatives in Cave Junction on Thursday, Sept. 6 from 6 to 8 p.m. The location will be announced in this newspaper.
BLM also will hold a community workshop/open house on Wednesday, Sept. 12 in Grants Pass from 3:15 to 9:30 p.m. The location will be announced.
Comments regarding the proposals, including the preferred alternative that would increase logging and affect some habitat restrictions under the Northwest Forest Plan, are due Nov. 10. They can be emailed to www.blm.gov/or. And they can be sent by regular mail to Western Oregon Plan Revisions, P.O. Box 2965, Portland OR 97208.
The draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) released by BLM involves management of 2.5 million acres of public land in S.W. Oregon.
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“We are revising our management plans in order to meet our dual goals of timber output and continuing to provide for habitat and conservation of federally listed species,” said Ed Shepherd, BLM’s state director for Oregon.
“This effort,” he said, “is one of the most significant planning undertakings in Western Oregon. The draft EIS examines the effects from an ecological, social and economic standpoint.”
The plan can be viewed at www.blm.gov/or/plans/wopr. It is a document of approximately 1,600 pages. It was outlined Thursday in Grants Pass by Tim Reuwsaat, BLM’s Medford District manager; and Bill Freeland, also of BLM Medford.
With increased logging, now greatly reduced in the Medford District because of lawsuits brought by groups opposed to it, Josephine County could realize some $13 million in O&C revenue per year in timber receipts.
Faced with declining income under the O&C program, the county has reduced the number of employees and benefits, closed the library system, and realized decreases in law enforcement.
However, county commission Chairman Jim Raffenburg noted that it could be a minimum of three years before any revenue is realized. And there is the possibility of further litigation in connection with BLM’s preferred alternative.
It would raise the allowed timber harvest from 57 million board feet (mbf) to 132 mbf. It’s estimated that more than 3,000 jobs would result in the 18 O&C counties.
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The district’s actual harvest has been in the vicinity of 20 mbf per year because of lawsuits. They generally involved the northern spotted owl and other requirements of the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan, according to BLM.
The preferred alternative would reduce habitat protection of the Northwest Forest Plan. Habitat for the spotted owl and marbled murrelet, now listed as threatened and connected to old-growth forests are involved. Salmon also could be affected.
BLM’s preferred alternative met with approval from Jim Frick, chairman of the Southern Oregon Resource Alliance. He said that it could result in valuable advances for the county.
Under the draft plan, “no less than 46 percent of the forested BLM land would be dedicated to the development of mature and structurally complex forest. The remaining 54 percent, dedicated to timber production, would also provide substantial amounts of mature and structurally complex forest.
“The planning area, 2.5 million acres of BLM-managed land, comprises 10 percent of the total federal acreage under the Northwest Forest Plan.”
Freeland stated that the EIS “was developed using more detailed and more accurate information than was available when the six resource management plans were revised in 1995 as part of the Northwest Forest Plan.
“More than 10 years of evaluation and research have led to a better recognition of what is needed to manage resources in a sustainable manner,” he said.
Stated Doug Robertson, a Douglas County commissioner, “The counties of Western Oregon have had a longtime partnership with BLM in management of these lands.
“By law, they are to be managed in permanent forest production to provide revenue to counties on land that cannot be taxed.
“The plan,” he said, “shows that you can provide for a predictable and sustainable flow of timber while at the same time providing wildlife habitat.”
The draft plan revisions coincide with preparations of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s Draft Recovery Plan for the northern spotted owl and the critical habitat designation for those owls and the marbled murrelet.
The BLM officials Thursday said that a final decision on which alternative would be used is at least a year away.
