Forestry Smart Policy

This episode with Sara Duncan, Director of Communications for the Oregon Forest Industries Council, takes on the top six myths about the timber industry, including: 1. Tree farms are not forests, and the timber industry only plants a monoculture of Douglas-fir. 2. Clearcuts are unnecessary, you could just thin forests instead. 3. Logging is the number one source of carbon emissions in Oregon and older trees sequester more carbon than young trees. 4. The timber industry cuts down trees for toilet paper. 5. All timber companies in Oregon are owned by out-of-state, wall street investors like TIMOs and REITs. 6. The listing of the spotted own didn't cause as many job losses as the industry said, it was actually automation.

In this episode, Senator Elizabeth Steiner, Senate co-chair of the full Ways and Means Committee in the Oregon Legislature, discusses a work group she convened that OFIC's Kyle Williams participated in after the end of the 2023 legislative session. The work group was tasked with exploring ways to address Oregon's wildfire funding crisis that has been building for years, and resulted in a concept that will be put forward as a bill (House Bill 4133) under consideration in the upcoming 2024 legislative session. Sen. Steiner and Kyle discuss the elements that led to formation of the work group, who participated and why, how they developed ideas, and the details of the proposal (including one element that will not move forward). Toward the end of the episode, Sen. Steiner also addresses the incomplete reporting about the workgroup by the media. Two short clips (part 1, part 2) can be found on our YouTube channel. Table of Contents Background 4:23 – 13:33 The history (and context) that lead to creation of the workgroup. 13:34 – 16:03 Where fires are starting and where acres are burning. 16:04 – 21:04 What happened at the end of the 2023 session that resulted in not continuing the $15 million landowner offset? 21:05 – 23:40 Why have conversations on wildfire funding failed in the past? 23:41 – 29:44 How the workgroup came together, who was involved and the process/guidelines for the workgroup conversation. 29:45 – 33:56 Why weren’t there more people involved in the conversation? 33:57 – 45:52 How the proposal came together, the three principles that lead to consensus. The proposal 45:53 – 50:24 One piece of the proposal that isn’t moving forward. 50:25 – The pieces of the proposal that are moving forward in the bill (HB 4133). 56:14 – 59:04 What the $10/tax account wasn’t paying for and how landowner rates would be reduced. 59:05 – 1:00:20 The primary driver that will reduce landowner per acre rates. Responding to media coverage 1:00:21 – 1:03:25 Did Sen. Steiner do this for political reasons, because she is running for Treasurer? 1:03:26 – 1:08:09 Did contributions to Sen. Steiner’s PAC influence the proposal? Was it a quid pro quo? 1:08:10 – 1:15:10 Does this proposal shift the financial burden for wildfire from big corporations to average Oregonians? 1:15:11- 1:17:28 How does wildfire funding in Oregon compare to other states? 1:17:29 – 1:20:56 Did one company “write the proposal”/did one entity have more influence over the proposal than others? 1:20:57 – 1:23:15 Sen. Steiner’s experience with two reporters who have covered this issue. 1:23:16 – 1:25:11 Concluding remarks/what’s next.

This episode with Katie Murray, executive director of Oregonians for Food and Shelter, and Seth Barnes, director of forest policy for the Oregon Forest Industries Council covers all things related to pesticide use in forestry, including: how pesticides (primarily herbicides) are applied either aerially or with a ground crew roughly two to four times in the first few years of a new forests’ life to hold back invasive species and noxious weeds. We also cover the regulations in the Oregon Forest Practices Act related to reforestation and water quality protection (including new protections put in place by the Private Forest Accord), what happens when applicators don’t follow the law, the process for notifying the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) and neighbors about forest activities, water quality monitoring studies, how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) assesses health risks and registers pesticides, what’s on a pesticide label, the carcinogenicity of glyphosate (Roundup), and impacts to pollinators.

This episode with Dr. Tom DeLuca, dean of the Oregon State University College of Forestry, focuses primarily on carbon sequestration and storage in forestry and forest soils. We also discuss a whole range of topics surrounding carbon, including the history of forestry as a practice, the carbon cycle of forests, how long carbon is stored in wood products, the carbon benefits of mass timber like cross laminated timber and mass plywood panels, the human connection to trees and wood products, the impact of active management on carbon stored in soil, the symbiotic relationship between soil and trees, and the impact of different land uses on carbon in soil.

This episode with Jim Paul, the newly appointed Executive Director of the Oregon Forest Resources Institute, discusses the institute’s three primary program areas (public education, K-12 education, and landowner education), as well as how OFRI is funded, the institute’s response to former Governor Kate Brown's request for a 2021 audit by Oregon Secretary of State Shamia Fagan, and implications of a bill in the 2023 Oregon legislative session.

As a follow-up to our two previous episodes that focused on the history of state forest lands in Oregon and the state’s pursuit of a Habitat Conservation Plan, this episode discusses the recent terms agreed to by the state to settle a lawsuit filed by environmental organizations over alleged impact the state’s forest management activities have to coho salmon habitat. The episode also includes a minor correction to statements made in the first episode on this topic (Are we putting the forest to sleep? Part 1: History of State Forests) that clarifies when former Governor Kitzhaber challenged the Oregon Department of Forestry to achieve twin goals of increased revenue and increased conservation.

This is the second in a two-part series on Oregon’s state forests, including the current controversy surrounding the Department of Forestry’s pursuit of a Habitat Conservation Plan for western Oregon state forests, the plan’s failure to provide adequate projected timber harvest levels to keep the Department of Forestry’s budget afloat for the next 70 years, and the mounting pressure on the Board of Forestry to change course.

This is the first in a two-part series about Oregon’s state forests, including the history of how the state acquired over 600,000 acres of forest from 15 forest trust land counties in the 1930s and 1940s, the progression of management approaches and issues on those forests over the last seven decades, and what lead the state to pursue a Habitat Conservation Plan for western Oregon state forests that aims to both protect threatened and endangered species like the northern spotted owl and coho salmon and increase financial stability for the Department. ** please note: there is a minor correction to this episode in Are We Putting the Forest to Sleep? An update: Coho lawsuit and a minor correction

This is the second in a two-part series on wildfire in Oregon, including the unique and world-class elements of Oregon’s wildland firefighting system (known as the complete and coordinated system), it’s unique and complex funding mechanism paid in part by private timber companies and in part by taxpayers through the General Fund, and ways the state can work with the federal government to address our wildfire crisis. For more details on how Oregon's firefighting system is funded, please see this two-page explainer document.

This is the first in a two-part series on wildfire in Oregon, including what’s causing the wildfire crisis in Oregon, what role climate change plays in our smoky skies, the different firefighting and land management approaches of private landowners and federal landowners, and how we might begin to take on treating Oregon’s forests with thinning and controlled burns, and creating defensible space and hardened homes in our communities to make Oregon more fire resilient.