A3
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JANUARY 11, 2022
Our Quality Is Timeless.
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Joshua Bessex/The Astorian
Logging in the Clatsop State Forest in 2016.
A billion-dollar battle
over more than timber
“If the state can walk away from its con-
tracts, then we’ve got nothing,” he said. “Then
we would have a partnership that’s not only
broken, but not a partnership at all. It would be
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
master and servant.”
Capital Press
More than two decades ago, the state’s
Board of Forestry enacted a defi nition of great-
If most arguments over money aren’t really est permanent value that emphasized “healthy,
about money, the lawsuit brought by several productive and sustainable forest ecosystems”
timber counties against the s tate over forestry that generate “social, economic and environ-
revenues is no exception.
mental benefi ts.”
In 2019, a jury in Linn County held the state
The counties contend that state foresters
liable for breaching contracts with 14 counties have curtailed logging as a result, depriving
and numerous taxing districts by logging an local governments of roughly $1 billion in past
insuffi cient amount of timber from state for- and future revenues needed for law enforce-
ests, reducing their share of profi ts. It awarded ment, schools, libraries and other services.
the plaintiff s $1 billion. Clatsop County was
After a month long trial in 2019, a jury in
eligible to join the lawsuit, but county com- Linn County Circuit Court determined the
missioners voted in 2017 to opt out.
state government had violated its contractual
As the state government seeks to overturn obligation to maximize timber revenues for
the jury’s verdict, it has exposed a broader rift the counties.
between itself and the predominantly rural
“You can call this a breach of contract, but
communities.
it’s a broken promise,” Bovett said. “It is a
“This is a lot bigger issue than a $1 billion direct promise from the state to the counties.”
judgment. It’s about rural jobs and economics
Though the judgment amount has since
— and a way of life,” said Roger Nyquist, a been accumulating roughly $260,000 in inter-
commissioner for Linn County, the lawsuit’s est per day, the state government has opted
lead plaintiff .
against settling the lawsuit.
The dispute goes beyond the stereotypical
Oral arguments are expected to take place
confl ict between the survival of rural sawmills in early 2022 but the timeline for a ruling is
and the survival of protected species.
unknown, in light of the case’s complexity.
It’s a legal conundrum that’s also about
The state government is urging the Court of
power: The counties want to stick up for them- Appeals to reverse the jury verdict, arguing the
selves, while the state wants to protect its pre- judge presiding over the case should not have
rogative to set forest policy.
allowed it to get that far.
“We’ve been resid-
The donated for-
ing on opposite planets,”
estlands are governed
THE DISAGREEMENT under a specifi c 1941
said John DiLorenzo,
attorney for the counties.
statute and the counties
CENTERS ON
The
disagreement
cannot enforce a stat-
centers on timber reve-
utory contract related
TIMBER REVENUES
nues from 700,000 acres
to matters of statewide
FROM 700,000
of state forestlands, most
public concern, accord-
of which were donated
ing to the state.
ACRES OF STATE
to the state by county
“At least when it
governments in the
comes to matters aff ect-
FORESTLANDS,
1930s and 1940s.
ing a statewide interest,
MOST OF WHICH
Counties and other
a county cannot seek
taxing bodies are enti-
compensation for losses
WERE DONATED
tled to a share of logging
caused by the state’s
TO THE STATE
revenues, and histori-
breach of a statutory
cally these monies have
contract,” according to
BY COUNTY
been a big part of their
the state.
budgets.
Under Oregon law,
GOVERNMENTS
The state is required
state forestlands must be
IN THE 1930S AND
to manage the forest-
managed for the “great-
lands for their greatest
est permanent value of
1940S.
permanent value. The
those lands to the state,”
state’s interpretation of
which is a matter that’s
that concept has evolved since the land fi rst within the discretion of the Board of Forestry,
changed hands.
the state said.
In recent decades, the state has reduced
“The s tate of Oregon gets to decide the
timber harvests to protect wildlife habitat and greatest permanent value for the s tate of Ore-
enhance recreational opportunities.
gon,” said Ralph Bloemers, an attorney for
The plaintiff s and the state disagree on what fi shing and conservation groups that oppose
was promised when the counties gave up the the lawsuit. “There’s nowhere that says: Tim-
land.
ber fi rst, then everything else. It’s everything.
The state claims the lawsuit shouldn’t have It’s multiple uses. It’s what people enjoyed
even gone to a jury, since the counties lack back in those days and today.”
an enforceable contract governing the land’s
Bloemers doesn’t think the $1 billion judg-
management.
ment has a high chance of surviving the Court
The county governments argue they never of Appeals, given the multitude of legal weak-
would’ve given up such massive swaths of for- nesses identifi ed by the state government.
estland if the state could simply reduce logging
“There are numerous errors that infected
levels and timber revenues at will.
the decision,” he said. “It has a lot to choose
“Who in their right mind would have done from.”
that?” asked DiLorenzo.
Private landowners had abandoned their
On Feb. 22, the Oregon Court of Appeals “logged over” forest properties and stopped
will hear arguments to decide which of their paying taxes on them, which is how they
perspectives is legally correct.
were acquired by the county governments,
A key question in the litigation is whether Bloemers said.
the counties have the ability to challenge the
The counties didn’t want to deal with the
state’s forestry decisions, since they’re subdi- forestland and so they handed it over to the
visions of the state government.
state, which has heavily invested in improving
While the state’s attorneys argue the coun- and managing the property, he said.
ties lack this power, the counties say they have
The legal problem of Oregon’s political
a right to enforce their contract with the state.
subdivisions suing the state government can
“What’s the point of a contract if the state be explained in familial terms, he said.
doesn’t have to live up to it?” Nyquist asked.
“It’s like a kid suing his parents for not get-
It’s an “absurd notion” that the counties ting enough allowance, when the parents have
can’t challenge the state in court over the mat- taken care of school, taken him to the den-
ter, said Rob Bovett, legal counsel for the
See Timber suit, Page A5
Association of Oregon Counties.
State seeks to overturn jury’s
verdict in timber suit
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