BLM Seeks New Timber Management Model

The Bureau of Land Management has filed a notice of intent to revise the resource management plan for nearly 2.5 million acres of forests in Oregon, potentially quadrupling the amount of timber open to logging on O&C Lands (Oregon and California Railroad Lands).

The agency is seeking to increase its sustained yield timber harvest to around 1 billion BF annually, an amount matching levels prior to conservation restrictions in the 1990s. Last year, logging on those lands only yielded around 250MMBF.

In its notice, the BLM says the proposed changes are needed because of wildfire, barred owl management and reduced revenue. The agency also cites an executive order from President Donald Trump directing federal agencies to issue new guidance aimed at increasing timber production.

The government shares timber revenue from O&C Lands, a checkerboard of federally owned forests, with 18 Oregon counties. Recently, the Department of the Interior increased local governments’ share of receipts to 75% from a previous 50% split.

Travis Joseph, president of the timber-industry association American Forest Resource Council, celebrated the possibility of a new management plan.

“It would mean thousands of more private sector jobs,” Joseph said. “It would mean millions of dollars of revenue for county governments to support mental health services, roads, schools—essential public services.”

He said the BLM currently allows for only 20% of annual timber growth to be logged, which defies the O&C Act of 1937’s mandate to harvest as much timber as grows annually.

“We’re adding a lot of biomass to these fire-prone forests in Western Oregon every single year,” he said.

Counties that once relied on revenue from logging on O&C Lands have struggled financially since conservation efforts drove out the timber industry. Local governments have had trouble increasing property taxes to replace that money.

Last year, O&C Lands generated $66 million of timber receipts, which were shared between counties. He doesn’t expect that number to quadruple soon, but even a doubling could dramatically affect local economies.