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Managing O & C Timberlands: An Industry Perspective

Rachael McDonald

Friday, November 15, 2013
Air date: Monday, November 18, 2013

Debate over the definitions of prescribed uses of the O&C forestlands has been going on since the late 1980s. Despite years of discussion, agreement about how much relative weight should be given each use remains unsettled. The debate has recently flared anew as revenues from O&C timber harvests shrink and Congressional programs to replace those revenues have proved unreliable, insufficient, and likely soon-to-be nonexistent.

The Act distributes 50 percent of timber sales revenue to the counties where O&C lands are located, 25 percent to the federal treasury, and 25 percent to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for administrative costs, including reforestation. Because federal lands are tax exempt, the 50 percent share of timber sales money to O&C counties is to reimburse them for lost tax revenue. Half of Oregon’s counties (18 of 36), all in western Oregon, contain O&C lands. Of those 18, Douglas, Lane, Jackson, and Josephine Counties receive the most revenue from O&C timber harvests.

Kathy Jones from the Seneca Companies (Seneca Sawmill, Seneca Jones Timber Company, Seneca Noti, and Seneca Sustainable Energy) will describe what the timber and wood products industry thinks should be done with O&C forestlands.

Doug Robertson will present the views of the Association of O&C Counties on those timberlands.

The first questioner is Mary Grace of Cascadia Forest Defenders.

copyright 2013 KLCC