We’ve been critical of Gov. Kate Brown’s lack of decisive policies that, if implemented, would benefit the majority of Oregonians, particularly those of us who occupy the majority of the state’s geography.
And so, although we recognize that general intransigence in government likely won’t do us good in the long run, we applaud two newly elected leaders for standing up to Brown on her alternative plans for the Elliott State Forest.
They would be State Treasurer Tobias Read, a Democrat, and Secretary of State Dennis Richardson, a Republican.
First, some brief background: The 82,500-acre coastal forest that spans Douglas and Coos counties between Reedsport and Coos Bay, created in 1930, has been held in trust by the state’s Common School Fund, and has used revenue from the land to pay for public education.
It is managed by the Oregon Department of Forestry for the State Land Board, which is composed of the three officials we’ve mentioned.
More than 90 percent of the Elliott forest forms part of the Common School Fund, which is intended to pay for public education in Oregon. Since 2012, due to lawsuits from environmental groups, the volume of logging has plunged. The forest contains such endangered species as the coastal coho salmon, marbled murrelet and the northern spotted owl.
Last month, Brown proposed a $100 million bond payment to the state’s Common School Fund, which would be used to remove certain areas of the forest containing old-growth stands and other high-value habitat to protect endangered species.
After the previous Land Board decided to sell the forest, the state got a $221 million offer from Lone Rock Resources of Roseburg to buy the forest and share ownership with the Cow Creek band of the Umpqua Indians tribe. The deal would also give a conservation easement to the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians.
We realize that there may be some pluses and minuses to both sides of this. We certainly don’t oppose steps to preserve sensitive land and wildlife when a strong case can be made for that. But such preservation needs to be conducted on a solid basis of science and the welfare of all the populations involved.
The extent of government control of natural resources in Oregon, where the federal and state governments own the majority of the land, has prompted increasing discontent from rural residents who feel their interests are ignored in favor of others.
Though extremists, the armed protesters who occupied the federal wildlife reserve in eastern Oregon last year appear to be a symptom of growing frustration with the management policies and practices and the lawsuits and the presumptions and court rulings that have led to a virtual standstill of profit from those resources to the communities they’re situated in.
Is this coming to a head? Hard to say, but it’s refreshing to see government leaders engaging in something besides platitudes and efforts to appease people who, for the most part, are urbanites who like to hike on weekends.
That frustration is felt, at some level, by many rural residents on many fronts. Earlier this year, after Brown delivered her State of the State speech, Republican senators issued a point-by-point rebuttal.
While it’s not our purpose here to endorse or validate their arguments, the very fact that they issued such a statement was impressive. Good policy doesn’t get made on a railroad track.
There will be more to the Elliott story. Environmental groups last week were lobbying Read and lawmakers at the state capitol to push for the public ownership option.
Maybe that’s OK. We understand that private ownership of some land in our state would likely be difficult due to cost or utility and there are certainly areas that need to be open to the public for a variety of uses.
The real issue here is Gov. Brown’s focus in a maelstrom of problems afflicting our state right now.
We’ve stated in the past that she doesn’t seem particularly interested in being a feet-on-the-ground leader in improving or fixing:
n the rural economic doldrums that are, in large part, the result of government land use decisions;
– the PERS debacle, which is the result of incredibly foolish decision-making by the legislature and is incredibly unfair to Oregon taxpayers;
– transportation needs that include deteriorating roads and bridges, a state transportation department that lacks credibility and effectiveness;
– a health system that’s rapidly becoming a cruel joke;
– funding for veterans services that she’s proposed cutting by nearly one-third;
– and educational challenges that include chronic absenteeism and funding challenges that have most recently manifested themselves in a proposal last week to increase tuition at the University of Oregon another 10.6 percent – following a 4.8 percent increase last year.
Oregonians obviously had confidence in Gov. Brown’s election promises when they voted to keep her in the executive office after her two years as a fill-in, but it’s time now for her to forthrightly address these problems.
If she can’t do it on her own, its heartening to know that other state leaders are beginning to make a real effort to plant flags in an effort to instill some sanity in Salem.
Actions speak louder than words.