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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2016
The battle over a state-owned forest
By SAPHARA HARRELL
The World
COOS BAY — Mist wisps
through the Douglas firs and
evaporates along the hillsides
as Joe Metzler and Elizabeth
Roberts drive down the gravel
roads that wind through the
Elliott State Forest.
The unmarked roads and
frequent forks could prove dif-
ficult for someone who has
never set foot in the forest, but
the pair knows the area well.
Metzler, the wiry retired Coast
Guard rescue swimmer, has
been coming to the Elliott for
three decades, reported The
World.
Behind the wheel, Rob-
erts discusses potential alter-
natives to the pending sale of
the state land. “That’s way over
my head,” Metzler retorts, “I’m
just a guy who likes to go in the
forest.”
In December, the Oregon
State Land Board will meet
to announce the fate of the
Elliott State Forest after public
testimony.
Last year, the board decided
to sell off 82,500 acres that
belong to the Common School
Fund because it was hemor-
rhaging money. After several
lawsuits, one over violations of
the Endangered Species Act, the
state began looking for a way to
compensate for the $4 million
loss that state land director Jim
Paul said the school fund has
incurred since 2013.
The state is between a rock
and a hard place, because it
needs to make money for the
school fund and has reached
a point where the Elliott costs
more to maintain than it makes.
So, it decided to sell off the
land for $220.8 million — no
more, no less.
Out of the woodwork
Backlash over the sale has
caused many outspoken advo-
cates of the state forestland to
come out of the woodwork.
Metzler and Roberts are two
of them.
The couple stops along the
road to look at a recent clearcut.
Stumps dot the landscape, the
empty brown space contrasting
against the sea of green in the
distance.
When clearcuts are done on
state land, wildlife snags are left
behind; lone trees that serve as
nesting areas for birds and other
wildlife.
Metzler said the snags are an
example of good logging prac-
tices — nature proves his point.
Perched atop one of the
snags is a northern pygmy owl
peering out at the vast expanse
below him. The 2.5-ounce bird
is just one example of wildlife
that flocks to the open spaces.
The snag is thanks to Huff-
man-Wright Timber and Con-
struction Operations, one of the
companies contracted out to log
the Elliott.
Logging
superintendent
Mike Huffman said he just
recently found out that the for-
est was being sold because it
was losing money for the Com-
mon School Fund. “My gut
response is it’s sad because
there’s so much money that
could’ve gone to the schools,”
he said.
Huffman said the state is
thinking short-term, but it will
lose out in the long run.
Oregon State University
Timber Harvesting Special-
ist Steve Bowers expressed the
same belief. He said timber is
more environmentally respon-
sible than any other nonrenew-
able energy, because it will
grow back.
“In 50, 60, 100 years it’s a
forest again,” he said.
Huffman and Wright have
been in the business long
enough to see that happen.
Areas they planted fifty years
ago have regrown and are ready
to be logged again. According
to Huffman, the Elliott grows
by about 80 million board feet
a year.
Although
clearcutting
swaths of trees has been one of
the more contentious logging
practices, Huffman said that’s
how new trees are planted.
“If there’s no clearcut,
there’s nowhere to plant trees,”
he said.
Money versus aesthetics
Right now, the forest is log-
ging 11.2 million board feet that
were approved last year, gener-
ating $3.5 million.
That number is relatively
low. In the past, the forest was
producing more than 25 million
board feet a year. But in recent
years the state has been rocked
with lawsuits, causing them to
sell off three parcels to recoup
their losses to the Common
School fund.
A lawsuit surfaced over the
$4.2 million sale in 2014, citing
a 1957 law that prohibits the
sale of lands in the forest that
were formerly national forest-
land. According to the case, the
land in question was transferred
from the U.S. Forest Service to
the state in 1913.
Before that, the state was
sued for allegedly violating
the Endangered Species Act
by clearcutting old growth for-
est that houses the endangered
seabird the marbled murrelet.
The suit was settled out of court
and the state dropped 900 acres
worth of timber sales.
When asked how he feels
about the endangered bird
affecting the timber indus-
try, Huffman’s partner, Oper-
ations Manager Butch Wright
said loggers aren’t out there to
destroy the land.
“Nobody wants to see a spe-
cies die completely out, we’re
not out here for that,” Wright
said, “But to completely dev-
keeping half the forest to be
open to the public and creating
40 jobs.
The current land board is
comprised of Gov. Kate Brown,
State Treasurer Ted Wheeler
and Secretary of State Jeanne
Atkins. Brown was the only
member seeking re-election,
which means at least two of the
members will be on their way
out within a month of making
the decision. This has caused
some activists to ask the board
to wait until a new cabinet set-
tles in.
Public losing out
Amanda Loman/The World
Joe Metzler walks across a fallen log over a creek in the Silver Grove in the Elliott State
Forest. The trees in the grove are over 220 years old in places.
Amanda Loman/The World
Mike Huffman, left, logging superintendent, and Howard
“Butch” Wright, vice president of operations, at Huff-
man-Wright Timber and Construction Operations, stand
on the edge of a recent clearcut by the company in the El-
liot State Forest near Coos Bay. The operation is able to cut
approximately 1 acre per day. “It gets in your blood,” Wright
said of logging. The family company has been in business
for 61 years and encompasses four generations of family.
astate what has been one of the
biggest industries in the state.
Yeah, I have a hard time with
that.”
Bowers, who used to be a
logger himself, said the fight
over the forest is so intense
because it’s so valuable.
“For one side it’s the dollar
sign and the other side it’s aes-
thetics,” he said.
Taking the
case to Salem
The fight was brought to the
state capitol in October, when
conservationists rallied outside
the state land board’s meeting
before an hour of public com-
ment on the forest. Local pro-
testers from the South Coast
gathered on a bus at 5:30 a.m.
for the 3 1/2-hour drive to
attend the Salem meeting.
Megan Crawford was one of
the people who woke up at the
crack of dawn to make the trip
and voice her thoughts.
The Coos bay resident takes
her kids to the Elliott to go
swimming and hiking. She said
she wants the forest to remain
in public hands so that future
generations will know what a
big tree looks like.
“I fear that some children
someday may look at a picture
in a book and not be able to go
and see what an actual big for-
est looks like,” Crawford said.
“When you go up there it’s
overwhelming. When you go
up there you’re like ‘wow that
is why we’re doing this.”’
Robin Meacher, wildlands
campaign director at the envi-
ronmental group Cascadia
Wildlands, said the rally helped
the movement gain some
traction.
“Before it was just people in
Coos Bay who knew about the
Elliott,” Meacher said, “After
the rally it’s almost national
now.”
During public comment,
people raised concerns about
this decision’s impact on the
future and on the potential for
future land sales.
Julie Curtis of the Depart-
ment of State Lands said that
it’s not uncommon for the state
to sell land. She said the poten-
tial Elliott sale, which accounts
for almost 65 percent of DSL-
owned forestland, wouldn’t
set a precedent for other state
lands.
“It’s important to look at the
reasons why the forest is being
sold,” Curtis said, “We have a
land asset that’s losing money
for the Common School Fund.”
According to the state lands
website, $66 million was ear-
marked for K-12 public schools
across the state this year. Since
1955, the Elliott has contributed
more than $300 million to the
school fund.
OSU’s Bowers said he
doesn’t think selling is the right
solution. “Selling is not going
to solve the problem,” he said.
“If they’re selling for money,
down the road it’s going to
exacerbate the problem.”
He said the state will lose on
both ends of the deal if it sells
the Elliott, because eventually
the money will run out and they
won’t have the forest as a rev-
enue source. “The money will
be gone and they won’t retain
the Elliott State Forest,” Bow-
ers said.
He said the best way for-
ward is for the forest to pick a
sustainable harvest level and
prevent people from litigating
once they fulfill the require-
ments set during the timber
comments. That, or put it on a
ballot and allow Oregonians to
vote on this issue.
There is just one bid on the
land, from the Roseburg-based
Lone Rock Timber Manage-
ment Co., which is partnering
with several Oregon tribes. In
a statement this past week, the
company said it and its part-
ners are “committed to sustain-
ably managing the forest for its
environmental, recreational and
economic benefits.”
Several conservation groups
have written the state in oppo-
sition, arguing the bid process
was set up to favor a sale to a
timber company and preclude
public ownership of the land.
Potential buyers were asked
to provide four public benefits
which include keeping 25 per-
cent of the old-growth forest,
allowing 120 feet for riparian
area along fish-bearing streams,
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Metzler said he’s mad at
both groups involved in the
conflict.
“They’re at fault for some of
this. I know what they’re trying
to do, but it shut them down and
now they’re going to sell it off.”
He said no one knew that
the lawsuits would result in the
sale of the entire forest.
“It was them saying to the
environmental groups ‘fine, we
can’t log it, we’ll sell it,”’ Met-
zler said.
He admits he doesn’t know
what other solutions the state
has. “I’m just a retired rescue
swimmer from the Coast Guard
who likes to hunt and fish and
bird watch.” Things he doesn’t
want to lose access to if the land
is privatized.
Despite mounting pressure
on the state not to sell, Metzler
said it’s going to come down to
money.
“The state is going broke.
They have a lot of trouble
with their retirement for state
employees that is in the red
big-time, and on top of that
you’ve got the Elliott State
Forest is making them go into
the red even more. You’ve got
the entire state of Oregon say-
ing we don’t want sales tax or
any new taxes and we’ve got all
these things that need to be sup-
ported,” Metzler said. “Some-
thing’s got to break some-
where. I would rather see cuts
elsewhere rather than the loss
of my public lands.”
The Escape stops at an area
called the Silver Grove, a stand
of trees well over 200 years
old. Douglas Firs and Western
Hemlock tower overhead, cre-
ating an ideal environment for
bright green moss and the cou-
ple’s favorite mushrooms.
Metzler squats down to pick
up a chanterelle. His Xtra Tuff
boots sink into the damp forest
floor.
“Thirty years ago I never
thought I’d have to defend
my public lands,” he said. “In
30 years, what’s it going to be
like?”
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