Oregon: The last era of federal forest counties that can’t survive unless there’s never ending give-aways
Despite his pleasure at remaining in office, Robertson’s tone turned
sober as he told an audience of about 50 people who attended the
swearing-in ceremony in the Board of Commissioners board room that the
county faces an uncertain future. Douglas County will receive about
$46.5 million in safety net funding in the current fiscal year that
runs through June 30. That’s $5.5 million less than in previous years.
And throughout each year of the extension, the county will receive
about 10 percent less each year. “We’ve got a difficult year ahead of
us,” Robertson said to the audience of mostly fellow county employees
and department heads.
“No one understands that better than the people
in this room.” The safety net extension, Robertson said, will buy the
county time to push for changes in forest management that would
increase forest income for Douglas County and other timber-dependent
counties. He and other county officials are hopeful that the Western
Oregon Plan Revisions for the Oregon & California Railroad trust lands
managed by the federal Bureau of Land Management will increase the
opportunities for increased logging on those lands Under the 1937
Oregon & California Lands Act, logging cannot take away more trees
than can be produced on a sustainable yield. Current harvest levels
don’t come anywhere close to that mark. Increasing forest revenue
would allow counties to survive without the safety net and would also
provide an increase in jobs, which would also benefit the county.
“We’ve faced adversity before and we’ll get through this,” Robertson
said. http://www.nrtoday.com/article/20081224/NEWS/812249997/1063/NEWS
This was taken in Paddy’s Valley, at the Douglas County trailhead on
2153. It’s the road you get to by taking 21 all the way to the end,
and then keep going. The little spur that the trailhead is on isn’t on
the map, but there is a string of text right there, across from the
road that runs up the hill to the northwest. There’s a big pile of
debris sitting in a clearing (the little white splotch on the map) and
the trail parking is on top. It’s shadeless, dirty gravel on boulders,
and generally not the coolest place in the forest to hang out.