Oregon Senator Ron Wyden is introducing his long-awaited timber bill to promote logging on national forests in Eastern Oregon.
The Oregon Democrat’s Senate Natural Resources Committee is to take up the bill today.
Timber industry and conservation groups that had once supported Wyden’s efforts to use logging to promote healthier national forests while helping small mills survive are not so happy with the latest changes.
Tom Partin of the American Forest Resources Council says it puts ecological restoration ahead of economic considerations in national forest management.
Steve Pedery of Oregon Wild says the bill lifts important protections for old growth forests. Wyden’s office says the bill allows some old growth harvest to pay for thinning projects, but those provisions came at the suggestion of leading forest scientists.
From Jefferson Public Radio: https://ijpr.org/post/oregon-timber-bill-be-introduced