Ron Wyden: Better policy for O&C lands can aid Oregon forests, rural counties

Oregonian (editorial):

Oregon needs a permanent solution to the decadeslong fight over managing the Oregon & California Railroad lands that run like a crazed checkerboard across the state.

That solution must increase timber harvests and economic activity on some lands while permanently conserving others. It must guarantee funding for schools, law enforcement and roads. And it must lay the foundation so rural communities can strengthen their private economies and rely less on the federal government. In the 1980s, years of unsustainable timber harvests collided with renewed public concern over clean air and water and endangered species. This collision left our state with a broken system that produced the worst of two worlds: an inadequate timber harvest and inadequate protection for public lands. Timber communities lost jobs, while conservation was more often handled by lawyers and judges than foresters and biologists.

Since I was elected to the Senate I have been building bipartisan coalitions to break these bureaucratic logjams. In 2000 I authored the Secure Rural Schools bill, which has brought $2.8 billion for roads, schools and law enforcement to rural Oregon. In 2003 I crossed party lines to write and steer to passage the Healthy Forests Restoration Act designed to streamline timber management. In 2009 I brought together environmentalists and timber companies to agree on a strategy to increase harvests, make forests healthier and reduce litigation in eastern Oregon.

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