SALEM, Ore. -- An agreement has been reached between timber and environmental groups to overhaul management of 10 million acres of private forestlands in Oregon.
The deal, announced Saturday, Oct. 30, by Oregon Gov. Kate Brown’s office, concludes more than a year of negotiations between forestry and environmental groups to develop a plan to boost protections for vulnerable fish and wildlife while shielding the timber industry’s ability to log. The agreement curbs attempts by both sides to place initiatives on the ballot during upcoming elections.
“Today’s historic agreement is a perfect example of the Oregon Way –– coming together at the table to find common ground, to the mutual benefit of us all,” Brown said in a statement.
In the statement, David Bechtold, representative of the coalition of forest companies. “We’re extremely proud to have started a process for more constructive engagement on forest policy issues. This is a new era that will produce the best outcomes for Oregon’s private forests and the communities that depend on them to provide clean water, recreation, renewable wood products and year-round, family-wage jobs.”
Speaking to the Associated Press, Adrian Miller, a representative of the Florida-based forest products company, Rayonier, the agreement gives timber operator a sense of security going forward.
The governor’s office described several main planks of the deal: new buffers for streams, rivers and other bodies of water, measures to protect steep slopes, improved forest roads and “a path forward to make adjustments and adaptation to forest practices in the future.”
Once the legislation is on the books, the state would submit a habitat conservation plan incorporating the new conservation.
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