New plans released Tuesday by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) would increase logging on the agency’s 2.5 million acres west of the Cascades summit — but don’t expect more chain saws to fire up anytime soon.
As expected, the BLM plan ran into an immediate storm of criticism from county government leaders, timber interests, environmental groups and members of Congress. All found fault with aspects of the plan, which has been years in the making and now will be dissected in court. The debate will continue the decades long legal logjam over the fate of federally owned forests in Western Oregon.
County leaders and loggers said the BLM is not allowing for enough harvest. They want double what is being proposed. Environmentalists said the BLM’s suggested logging level is too high and the plan takes away crucial protections for important wildlife and waterways. Members of Congress said the BLM’s plans are deficient, and that Congress needs to write new laws governing Western Oregon federal forests, although lawmakers have been at odds for years over how to do that.
The BLM’s proposed logging increase is not enough, argue leaders from 17 counties, including Lane County. On Tuesday, even as the bureau unveiled its plans, the counties announced their intent to sue to undo them. “We have no choice but to litigate, and we are on firm legal ground in doing so,” Columbia County Commissioner Tony Hyde said in a statement. “The BLM refused to even consider revenues for counties as an objective in developing its plan.” Hyde is president of the Association of O&C Counties, which is leading the pending lawsuit. The group represents Western Oregon counties that have BLM lands within their borders.
Lane is among them, and the Lane County Board of Commissioners voted earlier this year to chip in $84,000 to help the Association of O&C Counties with the costs of pursuing the lawsuit. Timber harvests on the land used to provide a reliable source of revenue for the counties, Lane County Commissioner Faye Stewart said. The federal government pays counties a portion of the sales receipts.
From The Register-Guard: https://registerguard.com/rg/news/local/34260269-75/counties-set-to-sue-blm-over-new-western-oregon-logging-plans.html.csp#