in other words
february21
2019
3
Salem Report
By Representative Brad Witt
During the week of Febru-
ary 11 in Columbia Coun-
ty, snowmelt and nearly
five inches of rain com-
bined to create extreme
flooding conditions forcing Rainier
Mayor Jerry Cole to declare a State of
Emergency for the city. The commu-
nity response was tremendous, with
emergency responders from Columbia
and Multnomah counties, along with
personnel from the communities of St.
Helens, Scappoose, Rainier, Clatskanie,
Columbia City, and Vernonia all work-
ing on disaster response.
My office reached out to Gov-
ernor Brown’s office, the Oregon Office
of Emergency Management, and the
Oregon Department of Transportation,
and I was very pleased with their sup-
port and assistance during the crisis.
But more than that, community
organizations and individuals stepped
up to help each other. For instance, the
Columbia River PUD crews, unable to
drive through a slide area, took their
gear and traveled on foot to restore pow-
er. The Columbia County Fairgrounds
opened their stables for horses to get
them out of flood prone areas. Students
from the Columbia County Education
Campus filled sandbags to shore up
buildings and properties. These are just
a few examples of the many people that
reached out to help their neighbors.
Thankfully the flood waters
receded. Now recovery begins with
damage repair, and some repairs will
be more difficult and time consuming
than others. For instance, a culvert on
Gable Road completely failed, causing
significant road damage. Engineers are
looking at repairs, the County is allow-
ing local traffic, but through travel on
Gable Road will be restricted for at least
a month. Rocky Point Road also start-
ed developing a significant crack, and
Multnomah County Public Works will
be assessing the damage to determine
the landslide risk before reopening the
roadway. Fox Creek in Rainier needs
daylighting, an engineering solution, to
move higher volumes of water flow.
There is flood damage to pub-
lic and private property. If you suffered
property damage caused by this flood-
ing, you may apply for property tax
pro-ration. To qualify, damage must
drop the real market value below the as-
sessed value, and the pro-ration amount
is based on the number of months the
property is damaged. Calculations are
determined by the Columbia County
Assessor’s office, you can contact them
at (503) 397-2240 to speak with an as-
sessor.
Drivers should use caution and
be alert for falling trees, landslides,
and areas of standing water. Motorists
should never drive through standing
water, because it is impossible to deter-
mine how deep the water is, and what
damage may be hidden from sight.
Climate change, and the trend
for warmer, dryer summers is putting
Oregon Forestlands at risk of more ex-
treme wildfires. Recently my House
Natural Resources Committee heard
from State Forester Peter Daugherty
who shared some dire information.
Half of Oregon’s land base, or
30 million acres, is forested. The Ore-
gon Department of Forestry (ODF) pro-
vides fire protection on 16 million acres,
and over the years, the length of the fire
season has been increasing, along with
the intensity of the damaging fires.
The ten-year average of fire-
fighting costs alone has more than tri-
pled in the past decade, with gross large
fire costs rising from $8 million to over
$35 million. But this is just a fraction
of the actual costs to the forest econom-
ic sector, higher occurrence of wildfires
increases the threat to firefighter safety,
loss of forest resources and property,
and compromises the economics of
working forestland. Wildfire smoke
imperils public health and the economy.
In 2017, Oregon had a 65 percent in-
crease in unhealthy air quality readings
and a loss of over $50 million in visitor
spending.
As State Forester, Daugherty
oversees ODF which manages 730,000
acres of Board of Forestry lands to se-
cure the greatest permanent value by
providing healthy, productive and sus-
tainable forests that provide a full range
of social, economic, and environmen-
tal benefits for Oregonians. Lands are
managed to provide timber revenue to
the state, local schools and communi-
ties, and local taxing districts.
The good news is that Oregon
State Forests are providing all kinds
of increasing benefits for Oregonians.
Harvest levels are up 22 percent over
the past five-year average, generating
nearly $80 million in revenue distribu-
tion to the counties. Use of recreational
opportunities including camping, hunt-
ing, hiking, and off-road vehicle use has
increased, and there has been a record
number of visitors to the Tillamook
Forest Center. All improvements were
achieved while providing high quality
habitat for native fish, and terrestrial
species such as owls and marbled mur-
relets.
ODF continues to work with
private and federal forest operators en-
hancing resource protection and forest
restoration. Since the 2017 Legislative
Session we have been funding work
with federal land managers to increase
the pace, scale, and quality of restora-
tion on Oregon’s federal forests, cre-
ating additional harvest opportunities
and putting more Oregonians back
to work while generating millions of
dollars of revenue. According to State
Forester Daugherty, ODF has agree-
ments in place for project work on 10
of the 11 National Forests in Oregon.
For these, federal funds are used to pay
ODF to implement projects on federal
lands which Daugherty says is the fu-
ture of our Federal Forest Restoration
Program; much of the proposed project
work would not happen without ODF
stepping up to perform the work.
So, while we need to be careful
to protect our forestlands, I believe the
Department of Forestry is on the right
track with their approach to forestland
management... protecting Oregonians’
$60 billion dollar forestland assets for a
host of social, environmental, and eco-
nomic benefits for all of us.
Publisher and Managing Editor
Scott Laird
503-367-0098
scott@vernoniasvoice.com
Contributors
Jamie Adams
Chip Bubl
Tobie Finzel
Superintendent Aaron Miller
Karen Miller
Shannon Romtvedt
Robb Wilson
Representative Brad Witt
Photography
Scott Laird
Vernonia’s Voice is published
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of each month.
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