OREGON ENVIRONMENTALIST, TIMBER COMMUNITY REACH AGREEMENT

Saturday, Governor Kate Brown’s office announced an agreement to develop a plan to increase protection of vulnerable fish and wildlife while preserving the timber industry’s ability to log. The agreement was reached after a more than year-long negotiation between environmental groups and owners of over 10 million acres of timberland. Last year, a series of competing ballot measures foreshadowed a potential political fight where environmental groups sought strict limits on aerial spraying of pesticides and improved protection of forest waters, among other priorities. At the same time, the logging industry sought compensation for private owners for losses in revenue due to state-mandated limits on logging. “Today’s historic agreement is a perfect example of the Oregon Way –– coming together at the table to find common ground, to the mutual benefit of us all,” Brown said in a press release. “Together, this agreement will help to ensure that Oregon continues to have healthy forests, fish, and wildlife, as well as economic growth for our forest industry and rural communities, for generations to come. I would like to thank everyone involved for their role in making this agreement a reality today.” “There’s no doubt that there’s gonna be challenges ahead,” said Sean Stevens, executive director of the conservation group Oregon Wild. “But I do think that this agreement provides a different sort of foundation than we’ve ever had before for tackling those challenges ahead.” “We were able to put down the contentious situations that we’ve had in the past and we had a continuous agreement to move forward,” commented Jim James with the Oregon Small Woodlands Association, “I think that’s an extreme positive for the state of Oregon.” After the agreement, a bill to significantly change the Forestry Practice Act is expected in the Oregon Legislature. The bill will address protection of riverbanks and streams, protect forest roads, and allow for adaptive management of private forest. Subsequently, the Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) will be instituted by the state with Oregon Board of Forestry as an overseeing entity. HCP will then be pitched by Oregon leaders to federal regulators. By Joanna Rosińska