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Central Oregon Land acquired for first new state forest in 70 years
By Dan Postrel
ODF Agency Affairs Director
In February, the Oregon Board of Forestry approved purchasing 43,000 acres of Central
Oregon forestland to create the first new state forest in about 70 years.
This purchase represents the first step in a long-range effort to acquire nearly 100,000
acres of forestland in northern Klamath County, about 50 miles south of Bend. The land
is east of Highway 97 near the community of Gilchrist.
An additional 25,000 acres immediately to the east is being purchased by The
Conservation Fund, a non-profit organization. The land will be held until a future state
purchase is possible. The entire 68,000 acres will be managed by the Oregon Department
of Forestry.
“This is truly an historic moment,” board chair John Blackwell said. “We’ve assured that
this land remains in forest use, providing a whole range of benefits for future generations.
That’s especially important these days, when we’re facing permanent loss of forestland to
development and other uses.”
The purchase is financed with $15 million in bonds approved by the 2009 legislature with
support from Gov. Ted Kulongoski. The bonds will be repaid over 20 years with
proceeds from the Oregon Lottery.
“Oregon’s working forests are as much a part of our legacy as they are our future,”
Kulongoski said. “They continue to benefit our economy and our environment. I am
heartened by this opportunity to preserve that legacy for future generations.”
The state purchased the property from Fidelity National Timber Resources, Inc., which
acquired it in 2006 from Crown Pacific. The property is part of larger holdings that were
owned by the Gilchrist Timber Company for most of the 20th century.
The community of Gilchrist was a “company town,” the site of the company mill and
home to many of its workers. The Gilchrist family sold the property and mill in 1991 to
Crown Pacific, which liquidated the forest to pay debt and eventually entered bankruptcy
in 2003. The land was replanted as required by Oregon’s Forest Practices Act, and is now
stocked with trees about 20 years old.
It will be several decades before the forest will be able to provide timber sale revenue to
Klamath County to support local services. Eventually, revenue also may come from
“carbon credits,” paid to forest owners for their value in absorbing gasses associated with
global warming.
“This is a good outcome for all parties involved,” said Nancy Craven of Fidelity, which
has another 22,000-acre tract that could be acquired by the state in future years as funding
is available.
The Department of Forestry’s early interest in acquiring these lands grew out of the initial
concern that they would be lost as working forests. As privately owned lands, these
Central Oregon forests are at risk of being fragmented into many smaller parcels.
Population growth, changing real estate values and contraction of the conventional timber
industry, particularly east of the Cascades, have produced increasing incentives for
owners of large working forests to divide and sell them.
When large blocks of forestland are fragmented into smaller ownerships, especially when
low-density homes are introduced, major challenges emerge, and forest values are lost.
There’s more potential for human-caused fires, compounded by more costly and complex
fire protection challengess. It’s also less likely the land will be managed for forest values.
Public access is lost and wildlife habitat is fragmented.
“Acquiring Gilchrist has taken lots of creativity and hard work from many people and
organizations,” said Doug Decker, ODF project leader for the acquisition effort.
“Ultimately, we’ve been successful with Gilchrist because so many have shared a vision
for keeping forestland as forestland. Conversion of forests to other uses is shaping up to
be one of the defining issues of our times. It feels good to be able to make a difference on
that here at Gilchrist.”
Just as the Tillamook, Clatsop and Sun Pass state forests – once cut-over and burned –
are being restored as healthy, sustainable working forests, the Gilchrist-area land has
enormous potential.
The forest management approach on the newly-acquired lands will be much like the Sun
Pass State Forest, located about 50 miles south. At Sun Pass, sustainable forest
management involves taking some younger trees, some middle-aged trees and some older
trees. It leaves enough of each age class so the stand can continue to grow into another
harvestable unit in a few decades, providing for a full range of forest values, and
producing about $1 million annually for Klamath County.
“Without the board’s action, this land may have faced a dramatically different future,”
State Forester Marvin Brown said.
In addition to the Gilchrist lands, the Department of Forestry manages 781,000 acres of
forestland, about 3 percent of Oregon’s forests.
The newest state forest, the Sun Pass, was acquired between 1943 and 1948.
Brown said the Gilchrist acquisition reflects the work and support of many people and
groups, including the legislature, the governor, Fidelity and Klamath County
commissioners.
Maps and other information about the acquisition are available on-line at:
http://egov.oregon.gov/ODF/STATE_FORESTS/gilchristacquisition.shtml |
