Oregon county sues state over logging policy

Linn County, Ore. will sue state over "inefficient" logging policy on public lands 

Following 15 years of decreasing revenue from timber sales, Linn County, Ore. plans to file a class-action lawsuit against the state, seeking more than $1.4 billion in lost revenue that otherwise would have gone to county and other entities’ general funds, plus interest for breach of contract.

The suit could include more than 150 taxing entities, including 15 counties, plus fire departments, school districts, libraries and others. The county sent a letter informing Gov. Kate Brown (D) and State Forester Doug Decker of its intention to sue Jan. 13, kicking off the 30-day warning period. Linn County Commissioner Roger Nyquist expected that if the state did not call in a mediator, the suit would likely be filed in mid-March. The suit also aims for an injunction to change the state’s forest management practices.

In 1998, an administrative rule changed forest management policy so that revenue generation was less of a priority. Three years later, the state implemented the new forest management plan, despite the state forestry department’s objection that numbers in crucial projections were faulty.

“Folks have been talking about it and complaining about it for 15 years, this is an action step,” Nyquist said. “If we’re guilty of anything, it’s of taking too long to talk about it before taking action.”

The $1.4 billion sought in the suit represents 15 years of at least $35 million per year in lost revenue for all taxing entities, interest on that revenue and future damages.

The Forest Trust Land Counties Council took over hundreds of thousands of acres of forest lands that counties received  from tax foreclosures during the Great Depression, with the charge to secure the “greatest permanent value” from the land. The 1998 rule change was contrary to the legislative intent, Nyquist said, as was the state’s 2001 adoption of the management plan.

“The fact is, the state isn’t generating the level of revenue that other county lands are, let alone private land,” said Mike McArthur, executive director of the Association of Oregon Counties. “We believe the greatest value for that land is monetary, but the state differs.”

Linn County has been projected to have lost $2.4 million a year since 2001, ranking fourth in losses among the 15 counties that could enter into the class-action suit. Clatsop County tops the charts with $12 million in annual forgone revenue.

“Every year for the last 20 years, we’ve had to reinvent ourselves as 2 percent less than we were the year before,” Nyquist said. “You do it once, you do it twice, and over 15 years it gets pretty difficult to keep it up.” 

Tim Josi, a Tillamook County commissioner and chairman of the Forest Trust Land Advisory Committee, said more efficient logging would not damage the environment, touting a plan that preserves 30 percent of the land for conservation.

He added that fear to the contrary could influence an eventual federal takeover of the land, at which point timber harvesting would plummet 97 percent under Bureau of Land Management control.

“Our fear is that this land will be less and less efficient in terms of timber production and we’ll end up having massive forest fires,” he said. “It’s not as if increasing the harvest would harm the environment. Under the state’s Forest Practices Act, it’s sufficient to keep water temperatures down and sedimentation low and the fish thriving.”

The counties, school districts and taxing districts aren’t the only parties losing money, though. The state department of forestry came to the Legislature asking for operating expenses, which spurred Linn County to file the suit.

“A six-year-old can do enough math to figure out that this isn’t viable,” Josi recalled telling the forestry department.