QuickTake:

The board agreed to become a cooperating agency with the Bureau of Land Management as the federal agency plans the management of 375,000 acres that could increase the county’s timber harvests.

Lane County commissioners will have a seat at the table when the federal Bureau of Land Management revises the Western Oregon Resource Management Plans.

The plans, last revised in 2016, play a central role in how the federal agency manages about 375,000 acres in the county. The land is part of a broader patchwork of more than 2 million acres across 18 western Oregon counties. They are part of the Oregon and California Revested Lands — commonly called the O&C Lands. The federal government gives counties a portion of the revenue from timber sales on those lands.

The BLM began the process of revising resource management plans after executive orders from President Donald Trump calling for the immediate expansion of timber production and identifying timber and lumber imports as a “threat to national security.” 

The county board’s unanimous vote Tuesday, March 17, to become a cooperating agency with the BLM gives it a voice in the agency’s work. The vote does not necessarily mean that the county supports or will support every policy change that federal officials adopt after making revisions to the plan.

Lane County continues to be a large timber-producing region, though the county’s timber revenues since the 1990s have significantly declined. The flood of timber revenue in decades past allowed the county to set a relatively low property tax base. In an era in which property tax increases are capped, that has resulted in tight county budgets.

Commissioner David Loveall represents the county on the Association of O&C Counties, a group which started in 1925. Loveall asked the board to consider signing on as a cooperating agency at its March 3 meeting, which prompted Tuesday’s action. 

Loveall said the Trump administration has a fast timeline, with the goal of final adoption of a plan by November and implementation of new management starting in 2027. He said the association’s role in representing the county will help, noting the organization already has lobbyists and staff on hand.

“I don’t believe it’s going to cost us any more money,” Loveall said. “I don’t believe it’s going to cost us any more staff time because this train has already left the station and is going down the tracks at breakneck speed.”

Commissioners disagree on approach 

Steve Adams, the county’s policy director, laid out the history for commissioners. The resource management plans date back to 1995 and were revised in 2008. Work on the most recent revision started in 2012 and concluded in 2016. During that last phase, he said, a 2012 memorandum of understanding between the county and the BLM guided that work.

The agreement with the BLM gives the county a voice in the environmental impact statement and planning, and it gives the county a way to weigh in with expertise gleaned from areas like land use, parks and recreation, search and rescue operations and economic development. 

Commissioners, while united in participating in the process, disagreed on what that should look like. The board had a second 3-2 vote in favor of having the Association of O&C Counties, known as AOCC, represent the county during the revision work with the BLM. 

Commissioners Laurie Trieger and Heather Buch opposed that approach. 

They said having policy staff represent Lane County’s specific interests would be a better way to elevate the county’s voice in the process. 

“If we give it to an outside entity such as AOCC, I wonder if their priorities and what they send and actually communicate with BLM is going to be the same as what is in the best interests of Lane County,” Buch said. 

Loveall said the association’s people work toward the same goals as Lane County. He added he doesn’t like the idea of “casting some doubts in the public” about the association.

Trieger said the goal is to give the county a stronger voice in the process, not to criticize the association.

“That is no comment on the association,” Trieger said. “That’s a comment on Lane County’s ability to have more voice.”

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Ben Botkin covers politics and policy in Lane County. He has worked as a journalist since 2003, most recently at the Oregon Capital Chronicle, where he covered justice, health and human services and documented regional efforts to combat fentanyl addiction. Botkin has worked in statehouses in Idaho, Nevada, Oklahoma and, of course, Oregon. When he's not working, you'll find him road tripping across the West, hiking or surfing along the Oregon Coast.