In late November 2019, a Washington D.C. judge ruled that 2.5 million acres of public forests managed by BLM in western Oregon have a timber-first mandate. If this ruling is upheld, the fate of these public lands will include more ancient forests turned to stump fields, at the expense of our climate, our communities, and our water security.
Read MoreFor the second talk in KS Wild’s Summer Speaker Series on Fire Management, Dr. Christopher J. Dunn focused on five key things we need to remember in our fire-prone landscape, and a new method derived from his research that may alter how we fight fires in the future.
Read MoreThe 1937 O&C Act overhauled the timber management and revenue distribution scheme. It allowed the federal government to pay fifty percent of gross timber revenues directly to the O&C counties, plus twenty five percent (for unpaid Railroad property taxes) to O&C lands. In 1953 Congress directed 25% of the revenue to road building and other capital improvements on the O&C lands, leaving only 50% paid to counties. These payment schemes tied timber harvests to county revenues and made county government a champion of increased logging.
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