UO study shows upswing, value in forest and watershed restoration

 Restoration work is on an upswing, even as traditional forestry services such as tree planting are declining, according to one of the papers. Contractors who do restoration work for state or nongovernmental organizations are more upbeat about their opportunities than those who work for federal agencies, the same study concludes. And while the payroll for restoration jobs in Oregon continues to be dwarfed by that of traditional natural resource industries such as forestry, fishing and agriculture, it results in numerous jobs in the state’s rural communities, according to another of the papers.

 “These studies suggest that public investments in forest and watershed restoration have similar, immediate economic and jobs payoffs to more traditional public infrastructure investments,” said Cassandra Moseley, director of the program. “In addition, these studies tell us that sustained investment by the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board and other state and federal natural resource agencies has helped foster development of a forest and watershed restoration sector in Oregon,”

 The first paper released today by the Ecosystem Workforce Program discusses how watershed council employees and contractors implement watershed restoration projects. Coordinators from 52 of the non-government agencies were interviewed.  The second paper profiles the contractors who do the bulk of forest and watershed restoration work, and involved a survey of 190 owners or managers of contracting businesses. The third paper details the employment and economic impacts of restoration work, and includes data from 99 Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board grants along with the contractor survey and a separate sampling of watershed council coordinators.  All of the papers can be found at ewp.uoregon.edu.

 “As far as we know, this research is the first of its kind to look in-depth at the economic impacts of forest and watershed restoration,” Moseley said.  “We combined information from extensive contractor interviews with fiscal data from watershed restoration grants to build a picture of how restoration contractors and projects create economic opportunity.

 The studies were conducted by Moseley, along with Ecosystem Workforce Program faculty Max Nielsen-Pincus and Emily Jane Davis, and graduate assistants Fraser MacDonald and Autumn Ellison.

 The studies did not measure the amount spent each year on forest and watershed restoration projects in Oregon, but did find that every million dollars of public investment in restoration projects supports 16.7 jobs in Oregon, and is multiplied 1.7 to 2.6 times by economic activity as it cycles through the state’s economy.

 President Obama’s back-to-work emphasis on public infrastructure projects – especially those with a “green” focus – would seemingly indicate a boon for forest and watershed restoration. That new emphasis builds upon the longer-standing efforts of federal and state agencies to restore ecosystems and create local economic benefit in Oregon. Investments from the state-funded Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board alone have accounted for an average of 230 jobs per year, according to the paper on employment and economic impacts.

 The studies provide insight into the types of businesses conducing restoration. Contractors who worked primarily for the federal government “were more likely to perceive a decline in forest and watershed work opportunities” over the past decade, while contractors who worked for non-federal clients such as watershed councils found an increase in opportunities, one study said.

 Nearly all of the contracting businesses are considered to be small, with more than two-thirds of them earning less than $1 million in annual revenue. Businesses whose work is done primarily for the federal government tend to perform more labor-intensive work and are more likely to specialize in forest and watershed management. Those who work for watershed councils and others are more likely to perform “equipment-intensive work,” and more often use forest and watershed restoration to supplement other kinds of work.

 The Ecosystem Workforce Program was founded in 1994 to support sustainable rural development in the West. The program conducts applied research and policy education that explores the connections between ecology, economy and governance.

About the University of Oregon

The University of Oregon is a world-class teaching and research institution and Oregon's flagship public university. The UO is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an organization made up of the 62 leading public and private research institutions in the United States and Canada. The University of Oregon is one of only two AAU members in the Pacific Northwest.

Contact: Cassandra Moseley, director, Ecosystem Workforce Program, 541-346-4545, cmoseley@uoregon.edu

Source: Cassandra Moseley, director, Ecosystem Workforce Program, 541-346-4545, cmoseley@uoregon.edu

Media Contact: Joe Mosley, media relations associate, 541-346-3606, jmosley@uoregon.edu

Links: http://ewp.uoregon.edu