Oregon creating its first new state forest since 1948

Jeff Barnard, The Associated Press:

Oregon has a new state forest — 43,000 acres of young pine trees in central Oregon.

The state purchased the land from Fidelity National Timber Resources Inc., of Whitefish, Mont., with $15 million in lottery-backed bonds.

Gilchrist State Forest is Oregon’s first new state forest since the creation of Sun Pass State Forest in Klamath County, which was purchased between 1943 and 1948, the Oregon Department of Forestry said. Dedication ceremonies are set for June 11 outside Gilchrist, a company-owned timber town.

Located east of U.S. Highway 97 about 45 miles south of Bend, the forest is covered with young ponderosa and lodgepole pine planted after heavy logging in the 1990s. It will not be mature enough to harvest for decades, said department spokesman Dan Postrel.

The state wants to keep the land in timber production, rather than see it broken up and developed as a resort or private homes, he said.

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