New Report to Solve the Western Oregon County Payments Impasse
Shared Responsibility: The Conservation Community’s Recommendations to Equitably Resolve the O&C County Funding Controversy
Reports and Info:
- Report and Executive Summary
- Feb. 1, 2012 Press Release from local, state, and national groups, describing their new plan to replace federal subsidies without resorting to clear-cutting public lands.
- Critique of Active Management in Spotted Owl Habitat
- 4-page summary and critique of their proposed “O&C Trust, Conservation, and Jobs Act.
As Oregon county governments receive their last checks from federal taxpayers under the expired county payments program, a coalition of seven local, state, and national conservation organizations has unveiled a balanced strategy to resolve the county funding conundrum. Given the growing trend in Congress to end Oregon’s county payments program, the groups are promoting a shared responsibility approach, where county governments, the State of Oregon, and the federal government would each take responsibility for resolving a portion of the problem.
This common sense proposal stands in stark contrast to the legislative proposal in the House (H.R. 1526) endorsed by Representatives Peter DeFazio, Greg Walden and Kurt Schrader. They are in favor of re-linking county funding to clearcutting public forestlands, with weakened protections for endangered species and clean water.
In a September 2013 letter to Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), more than 180 scientists expressed their strong support for retaining protections of O&C forests in the Northwest Forest Plan (1994), which would be undermined if H.R. 1526 becomes law. Read the press release and the scientists’ letter.
Historical Background
For decades the Pacific Northwest has taken center stage in debates concerning logging, primarily on federal lands. In particular, controversial logging of mature and old-growth forests began in earnest during the post-WW II logging and housing booms. In just five decades, logging had reduced the region’s irreplaceable old forests to 15-20 percent of their historic range.
By the 1990s, high rates of logging on National Forests and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands resulted in the listing of the northern spotted owl as a federally threatened species. Additional concerns over the viability of hundreds of other old-forest dependent species ushered in the Northwest Forest Plan in 1994, which greatly slowed logging on federal lands.
Attempts by the Bush administration to weaken this plan, undercut protection for the spotted owl, and endorse dramatic increases logging in southwestern Oregon were overturned in the courts and/or rescinded by the Obama administration.
Now the Obama administration is poised to reformulate the Spotted Owl Recovery Plan and revisit Oregon BLM policies. Our President and Chief Scientist, Dr. Dominick DellaSala has served on the Spotted Owl Recovery Team to help review and revise the recovery plan. Dominick’s Oped describes how the spotted owl faces extinction if politics continue to be put ahead of science.
In July 2012, Dominick, Randi, Board Member Barry Noon, and two Board Members of the Society of Conservation Biology met with Fish and Wildlife Service scientists in D.C. to discuss the designation of “Critical Habitat” for the spotted owl.
Our overall goal is to insure that the Spotted Owl Recovery Plan and the Oregon BLM’s revised plan provide adequate protection for older forests and associated species, while increasing investments in job-creating activities. We envision future forest management as restorative in nature, with a focus on thinning young tree plantations, reducing fuels and small trees in fire risk areas, removing failing roads that erode sediment into streams, and containing invasive species.
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Samantha Medlock is President of Climate Risk Advisors, helping communities and organizations advance equity, sustainability, and resilience. Her career began chasing floods as a local official in Texas Flash Flood Alley—a hands-on experience that still shapes her approach to climate and disaster risk management.
Arsum is the Senior Adaptation and Coastal Resilience Specialist for the National Wildlife Federation’s Southcentral Region. In this role, she advances climate adaptation efforts, with a focus on nature-based approaches to address the impacts of climate change and extreme events across the Gulf region. She has authored and co-authored numerous publications on climate impact assessments and adaptation solutions. Additionally, she regularly participates in state-based coastal resilience and hazard mitigation planning across the Gulf, collaborating with regional and local stakeholders.
Jim is a multilingual world traveler. Based in Bavaria during the 1970s, Jim spent most of this period in India, Afghanistan and Nepal, where he founded and operated a charitable medical clinic serving Tibetan Refugees. He settled in Oregon in 1983 on a forested ranch in the Umpqua National Forest.
Dr. Micah Hahn is an Associate Professor of Environmental Health in the Institute for Circumpolar Health Studies at the University of Alaska-Anchorage. She received her joint PhD in Epidemiology / Environment and Resources from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her MPH in Global Environmental Health from Emory University. Subsequently, she was a postdoctoral fellow for the CDC Climate and Health Program, and in this position worked collaboratively with the CDC Division of Vector-borne Diseases and the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Her research focuses on understanding the health impacts of climate change and working with communities to develop locally-relevant adaptation and resilience-building strategies. Dr. Hahn is also on the Management Team of the Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center.
Michael is a former Founding Principal of Resilient Cities Catalyst, a global non-profit helping cities and their partners tackle their toughest challenges. He is currently the Executive Director of Climate Resilience Academy at the University of Miami.
Dr. Quintus Jett is a consultant, educator, and strategist for public causes. He has a doctorate in Organizations & Management from Stanford University, and a two-decade faculty career which spans schools, departments, and programs of business, engineering, liberal studies, divinity, and public and nonprofit management. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Dr. Jett launched a volunteer project in New Orleans, which enlisted residents, students from over a dozen colleges and universities, and hundreds of others to field map the city’s Gentilly district, Lower Ninth Ward, and New Orleans East. Dr. Jett is an innovator in higher education, bridging the divide between academic research and the other priorities of the modern university, including student access and diversity, community engagement, and providing foundations for life-long learning in today’s rapidly changing world.
Scott is Monfort Professor of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University. He has written about 100 publications in the peer-reviewed climate literature, is a former editor of the Journal of Climate, and served for five years as founding Science Chair of the North American Carbon Program.
Linda has many years of experience in disaster preparedness and resilience. She has been an elected official on the Linn County Iowa Board of Supervisors, Chair of the Metropolitan Planning Organization, the East Central Iowa Council of Governments, the statewide Mental Health Developmental Disability and the Linn County Board of Health. Langston is a former president of the National Association of Counties (2013-2014).
Ken works with families and organizations as a mediator, organizational consultant, trainer and facilitator. Along with his passion for helping people prepare for and reduce climate change, Ken also volunteers as a mediator through Mediation Works and is passionate about supporting youth through mentoring with Boys to Men of Southern Oregon.
Matthew is a retired high school teacher who was once honored as Oregon High School Social Studies Teacher of the Year. Before his teaching career he was in the restaurant business in Portland. He is also a lawyer who has been a member of the Oregon State Bar Association since 1980.
Andrea is the Resilience Policy Advisor for the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency. She works across state agencies and with local governments to increase the state’s resilience to the impacts of climate change.