We all have a stake in BLM forests

BLM lands play a critical role in the livelihood and quality of life of just about everyone in Southern Oregon. Whether you are a hiker in the Applegate, a logger in Butte Falls, a fisherman on the middle Rogue or someone just stopping to enjoy the view, BLM forests and streams are a regular part of your life. That is why we all have a stake in a plan by Reps. Greg Walden and Peter DeFazio to dramatically change the management of BLM forests.

No one knows exactly how dramatic these changes will be, as the details of their proposal have not yet been shared with the public. But we do know this: about 1 million acres — half of western Oregon BLM lands — would be placed into a timber "trust" and managed through clearcut logging to create revenue to fund cash-strapped county governments.

The other half of western Oregon BLM — the older forest stands — would receive some protection that has yet to be defined.

Everyone agrees that the situation with county budgets is dire and that we need a long-term solution to generate revenue for Oregon counties. The federal payments Oregon counties have come to rely so heavily on may soon dry up as budgets tighten in Washington, D.C. Still, clearcutting 1 million acres of Oregon public lands just isn't a viable solution.

It was clearcut logging of old-growth forests from the 1950s through the 1980s that encouraged Oregon counties to rely on bloated timber sale receipts. It is now recognized that the overcutting of our public forests was unwise and unsustainable.

What many people may not realize is that while we have moved away from public lands clearcutting, we are still actively managing significant portions of our federal forests, particularly on BLM lands. Between 2009 and 2011, BLM in Western Oregon cut enough timber to build over 50,000 homes. Oregon BLM forests currently produce more timber on fewer acres than other public lands in the Pacific Northwest (These lands make up only 10 percent of the region's land base but produce 35 percent of the timber).

Similarly, the successful management of Forest Service lands demonstrates that we don't have to return to clearcut logging in order to create timber revenue. Locally, the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest routinely meets or exceeds its timber targets through projects aimed at improving forest health, and they often do it without appeals or litigation.

This is not the "cut and run" logging that made such a mess in the last century, but rather thinning that is aimed at improving forest health and resiliency. This style of logging brings together communities that live next to these forests, timber companies and other stakeholders.

While this new era of collaborative-based restoration forestry can supply good jobs and plentiful wood products, it simply cannot generate enough money to fill the county funding gap. To do that we would need to return to the unsustainable logging of the past.

But we exhausted the forest bank account by the 1980s and now we need to find a new way to generate revenue for counties without running the natural capital account dry.

We know there are no easy answers to the county impasse, but recently a coalition of conservation organizations released a proposal to help secure long-term county funding. The conservation groups proposed a solution based on shared responsibility in which the federal government, the state of Oregon and the counties would pitch in to create revenue.

While Reps. Walden and DeFazio dismissed this idea of shared responsibility, they continue to be interested in solving the county funding problem. They should welcome input and suggestions from the public, especially in Southern Oregon, where these BLM forests are deeply embedded in our social fabric.

BLM forests provide world-class outdoor recreation opportunities, pump millions of dollars into our local economy and provide immeasurable value by producing clean air and water, salmon and wildlife habitat and beautiful scenery. BLM lands are a big part of why we all love our home.

Before we proceed with a plan that could liquidate half of the BLM forests that surround us, we must stop and think what that would mean for future generations. We have a responsibility to create a county payments solution that we can proudly pass on to Oregonians for generations to come.

Joseph Vaile is the campaign director at KS Wild in Ashland and a former employee of the Medford District BLM.