Oregon Dept. of Forestry Seeks Operating Loan
State forestry officials are seeking changes to the way the state funds firefighting efforts after the agency had to ask the Oregon State Treasury for a $60 million loan to tide the agency over until it can get more money from the Legislature. After taking the brunt of this year’s $317 million in firefighting costs (almost half will be reimbursed—eventually—from the federal government), the Oregon Dept. of Forestry is broke.
According to ODF officials, the agency has had to ask for loans several times in the past 20 years, most recently in 2021. They add that firefighting costs have increased dramatically the past decade at a rate of more than $10 million annually of rising costs. The agency is working on a report that includes potential new funding models that will be forwarded to the 2025 legislature.
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Beginnings
Way back in the 1940s my father was a local kid with smarts. Born into a farming family in Butler County, Ala., he grew up loving his family, the land, animals and hunting and fishing. He was even working his way into the timber industry: The folks running W.T. Smith Lumber in Chapman gave him a summer job learning to cruise and mark timber, and he planned to attend Auburn University and go into forestry…
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