releases: https://walden.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/full-testimony-rep-greg-walden-long-term-oc-lands-solution
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| https://walden.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/full-testimony-rep-greg-walden-long-term-oc-lands-solution | Full testimony of Rep. Greg Walden on a long-term, O&C lands solution | 2013-04-11 | 2013 | 2013-04 | Republican | House | OR | Greg Walden | W000791 | walden.house.gov | legacy | Testimony of Rep. Greg Walden (OR-02) House Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulations Natural Resources Committee 10:00 AM April 11, 2013 1324 Longworth House Office Building Chairman Bishop and Ranking Member Grijalva, This is an important and timely hearing and I'm encouraged by the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks Forests and Public Lands' interest in identifying a long-term solution for our federal forest counties and the hardworking people who live there. I recognize my colleagues from Oregon, Representatives Peter DeFazio and Kurt Schrader, for working with me and many other Oregonians who agree that the status quo serves no one well. Later today you will hear from Oregon's Douglas County Commissioner Doug Robertson who also chairs the Oregon & California Counties Association (O&C Counties) and Tom Tuchmann, Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber's Forestry and Conservation Advisor. I am very pleased that the Committee called on these two individuals given their combined wealth of knowledge on the issues before us today. It's time for real change. Let me be clear about what our forested communities facesince 1990 the timber harvest from federal timber lands in Oregon has dropped by more than 90 percentin fact 60 percent of Oregon's forestland is owned by the federal government but contributes only 12 percent to Oregon's total timber harvest. The mortality rates are above 19 percent on federal lands and we have endured hundreds of thousands of acres lost to wildfire, bug infestations, and disease. That's not a healthy picture. The economic picture in Oregon's rural forested communities is just as bad. According to the Oregon Employment Department, of the 14 forested counties I represent, 10 currently face double digit unemployment. If this wasn't shocking enough, consider that eight of these same counties over the last five years have had an average poverty level of 14 percent or greater. How could we let this happen to our rural forested communities? Remember from 1980 to today, Oregon went from 405 open mills to just 106 open mills a 74 percent decrease in capacity available to do work in the woods. We went from 45,778 mill jobs to 15,706 in that time a 66 percent drop. There appears to be a direct connection between the loss of mills and jobs and the substantial increase in poverty - consider this, Harney County in 1989 had three operating mills and a poverty rate of 10.6 percent. The county no longer has a single mill and a poverty rate of 18.6 percent. According to the Oregon Department of Education, nearly 60 percent of school children in the county qualify for free and reduced lunch. Harney County have seen the affects of one large catastrophic wildfire after another and a total loss of their mill infrastructure while hundreds of thousands of acres of forest surrounding them are in desperate need of treatmentand hundreds of people in the community are in desperate need of a good, family wage job. This is a ludicrous situation and I am unwilling to say that we can't fix this! The Oregon Employment Department understood this connection to the loss of mill infrastructure and impact on the community, when in 2007 after mills closed in John Day, Wallowa, and Hines, a report was issued which said the job losses across the three communities was the equivalent to the Portland metro area of suddenly having over 26,000 additional people out of work. What this means is that a job in one of Oregon's rural forested community has the potential local economic impact as 139 jobs in one or Oregon's metropolitan areas. What would the outcry be if suddenly Portland-Beaverton-based Intel and Nike just shut downwhat would the impact be on schools, business, churches..the community? Well just ask people who live in John Day, Wallowa, and Hinesthey will tell you it's devastating. I think we can all agree that the status quo doesn't work, and won't work going forward. Our communities don't even want the status quo. They don't want the handout that's made them dependent on the federal government. They want jobs. They want healthy forests. They're tired of the catastrophic fire and the bug infestation. They're sick of the budgeting uncertainty that comes with not knowing if Uncle Sam will pay his fair share. The O&C Counties sent the Oregon delegation a letter on March 11 that I would like to enter into the record. In it they make statements like The O&C Counties are not interested in legislation that only pretends to solve the problemare seeking meaningful relief from the unacceptable status quoand that they (the O&C Counties) remain steadfastlysupportive of the O&C Lands Trust, Conservation and Jobs Act as currently proposed by myself and Representatives DeFazio and Schrader. Counties and forested communities are calling on the congress to provide them the ability to pursue the American ideal of self-reliance once more. I would like to now enter into the record a report prepared in December for Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber and members of the Oregon legislature titled the National Forest Health Restoration - An Economic Assessment of Forest Restoration on Oregon's Eastside National Forests which contains some remarkable and telling facts about the current ecological and economic conditions of forest lands and communities. It is important to note the diverse and knowledgeable group that made up the steering committee - Association of Oregon Counties; Ochoco Lumber Company; Office of Governor John Kitzhaber; Oregon Business Council; Oregon Department of Energy; Oregon Department of Forestry; Oregon Forest Resources Institute; Oregon Solutions; Oregon State University; Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board; Sustainable Northwest; The Nature Conservancy; and the Forest Service. As stated from the report The purpose of this study is to provide an accurate economic impact assessment of forest health restoration on Oregon's eastside National Forests. The basic takeaways of the report are that reduced forest management activity in eastern, southern, and central Oregon has decreased timber supply and hurt many families. The report clearly states that between 2006 and 2011, annual food stamp use and welfare payments in these areas tripled to nearly $300 million, and in 2010, Oregon distributed $470 million in unemployment insurance claims to 29,000 people in the study area. The report underscored that fact that in these rural forested communities, nearly 1 in 5 people live in poverty, the highest rate in Oregon. Not only are the forests unhealthy, so are these rural forested communities. It doesn't have to be this way. Oregon's county governments are crying out for change. I would like to enter into the record a letter sent by the Association of Oregon Counties this week which states: We are faced with two dire problems in the vast stretches of Oregon dominated by national and O&C forests: 1. The forests are sickly, crowded, dead, dying, and burning up; and 2. Surrounding and dependent communities are in deep economic dysfunction. Both problems can be addressed through active management of our federal forests. To underscore this call for change, consider that across southern, central, and eastern Oregon that there are approximately 19.8 million acres of forestland 11.3 million of which is administered by the Forest Service. Approximately 9.2 million acres of this ground is available for management or, in other words, not excluded by congressional action from forest management activities. A key fact in the Governor's report is that 78 percent of this 9.2 million acres, or 7.1 million acres, are at significant risk of crown fire, a most devastating type of wildfire. Remarkably, the Forest Service is only able to conduct forest management activities commercial timber harvest, stewardship contracts, watershed restoration, hand piling, etc on 1.4 percent of the entire 9.2 million acres just 129,000 acres each year. Are you kidding me! We all know that each year the federal government spends a tremendous amount of money on fighting wildfires. The Governor's report stated: From 2007 to 2011, large fires annually burned an average of 56,000 acres of national forestland in eastern Oregon, which cost $43.6 million, on average. Based on these five-year averages, the USFS spends an estimated $780 per acre on expenses related to fire suppression each year. These costs include the cost to suppress and contain the fire as well as any rehabilitation of fire suppression activities. According to the Oregon Department of Forestry, over a 20 year period from 1980 to 2000 wildfires in eastern Oregon burned approximately 553,000 acres with an average fire size of 26,000 acres. Over the last 10 years wildfires in the same area has burned a total of 1 million acres averaging 93,000 acres. Now here's the real kicker - from 2007 to 2011, fires east of the Cascades larger than 100 acres burned an estimated 279,000 of federal forest lands costing $218 million in suppression costs. The Governors report sums up this situation, stating: At current levels, the USFS spends $40.8 million dollars each year to treat 129,000 acres. Based on the average fire suppression cost of $780 per acre, the USFS would incur approximately $100 million in fire suppression costs each year if 129,000 acres were left untreated and burned by wildfire. The difference between the cost of implementing restoration and incurring fire suppression costs represents a potential $59.2 million annual savings for the USFS. In other words, for every $1 the USFS spends on forest restoration, the agency avoids a potential loss of $1.45. Remember, the current forest management footprint across southern, central, and eastern Oregon is only conducting projects on 1.4 percent of the 9.2 million acres. As outlined in the report, in order to treat all the available acres at least one time during a 20 year time period, the Forest Service will need to reach an annual pace of 5 percent. No part of the study area even comes close to conducting projects at this level. In fact, if we doubled the amount of acres treated every year to 258,000 acres, we would still fall 202,000 acres less than what is needed to achieve a 5 percent accomplishment rate of 460,000 acres a year! I highlight all of these points because this is the exact same story which is playing out across our western forest reserves. President Theodore Roosevelt, the father of our great forest system, would be horrified at the conditions of our forest and rural communities. I assure you that he would charge forward to fix this problem. It's clear the status quo isn't working. We need to get our rural communities working again. I would like to enter into the record a joint Oregon Senate-House legislative resolution (SJM10) sponsored by Republicans and Democrats, including the state Senate President and Speaker of the Oregon House. The resolution urges Congress to transfer management of Oregon and California Railroad grant lands to newly established board of trustees consisting of representatives from local government, environmental organizations and timber industry. Momentum is building for changefrom county commission chambers to the committee rooms of the state legislature to the halls of Congress. We can do this. We can put people back to work in the woods. We can create prosperous communities and healthy forests. We can provide certainty for teachers and law enforcement officers. We can better manage our forests. This is our opportunity to make federal forest policy work for Oregon. I look forward to being a part of this effort. | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |