Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Cascade Timber Consulting is finalizing nearly 4,000 acres in Measure 37 claims for property that may be developed in low densities in coming years.
“There’s about 32 claims, a little less than 4,000 acres,” CTC President Dave Furtwangler said.
CTC manages a little more than 35,000 acres of timberland owned by Timber Services Company, which is owned by the Hill family.
“That’s still our goal, managing our forests to produce high-quality timber,” Furtwangler said. “When Measure 37 came out, it caused us to take a look at some of our more marginal properties. Some of them grow timber just fine but may have neighbors nearby.”
Other property in the claims may have issues with fire danger or vandalism, he said.
The land is spread out across the area, including property near Green Peter Reservoir.
CTC sees some recreation opportunities on that land, Furtwangler said. “A lot of what we filed claims on probably will never be developed anyway.”
CTC just wanted the option to do something if an opportunity arises, he said. If property is developed, it will be done slowly and over time.
Measure 37 was passed by Oregon voters in November 2004. On request of property owners, Measure 37 allows their property to revert to the level of regulation that was in place when they purchased the property.
The deadline to file a Measure 37 claim was in November, Furtwangler said. CTC filed its claims about a month before that. Linn County has approved the claims, but the process with the state government is not yet complete.
Some of the property has been owned by the Hill family since 1910, Furtwangler said. Land had been set aside for land grants to build a wagon road from Sweet Home to Ontario. The Oregon and Western Colonization Company, including Lewis Hill and a partner, purchased the entire land grant still available in 1910.
They were actively marking that land as homesteads and to small timber operators, although logging would not become a major use of the forestland until World War II, Furtwangler said. The war is what got the Hill family involved in timber, providing wood for the war effort.
Over the years, some of the land changed hands as property was consolidated, meaning that different parts of the land were subject to different rules, dating back to the first part of the 20th century, he said.
The Santiam Lumber Company (later Willamette Industries, which was purchased by Weyerhaeuser) had a long-term contract with the Timber Services Company, owned by the Hill family, to log the land. CTC, under different names, oversaw the harvests and continues to manage the land today.
“It is to be a benefit for the Hill family,” Furtwangler said. “Our job is to generate return for the Hill family.”
Members of the Hill family live across the United States, Furtwangler said. “Home base” for the family is in St. Paul, Minn.
The Hill family has continually supported good management practices that will ensure that the land produces timber for future generations as well, Furtwangler said. That remains the company’s goal; but under Measure 37 and with a fiduciary responsibility to the Hill family, CTC has the opportunity to take marginal land in farm forest zones, forest conservation zones and other zones and make something of it.
That doesn’t mean that forestland will suddenly turn into housing tracts.
CTC hired a well-known land use planner, Randall G. Arndt, to take a look at developing the properties and develop conceptual plans, Furtwangler said. Arndt’s style is to maintain the features that make such property attractive to buyers in the first place, retaining natural features and open spaces in common areas with homes sometimes clustered and sometimes spread out over a parcel of land.
“He gave us advice on how to develop these parcels so they’re attractive,” Furtwangler said. They will be low-density developments compatible with neighboring residential areas.
Furtwangler wanted to recognize the Linn County Planning Department for its help through the process.
“They’ve been very cooperative in the whole process,” he said. “They’ve been responsive. They’ve done really what they’ve been asked to do. I think they’ve done a very good job.”
In the meantime, state legislators have placed Measure 49 on the November ballot, and that concerns CTC.
“It’s really a repeal of Measure 37,” Furtwangler said. “Measure 49 and what the legislators passed is just directly from the extreme environmental groups.”
The wording in the text of the measure is identical to wording that appeared on the 1,000 Friends of Oregon Website before the measure was even talked about, he said.