GRANTS PASS – Imagine a steady income from timber harvesting that could help pay for Curry County government, schools and roads.

Imagine up to 12,000 new jobs in Oregon’s rural communities.

Imagine preservation of old-growth forests and other crown jewels of the state’s natural environment.

It would all happen if a bill now in the House Resources Committee becomes law, say three members of Oregon’s congressional delegation who had a hand in writing the legislation.

They believe the O&C Trust, Conservation and Jobs Plan would be a lifeline for the state’s timber counties, where economic survival is threatened due to the end of federal payments from the Secure Rural Schools program.

Rep. Peter DeFazio and Rep. Greg Walden spent Thursday afternoon explaining the plan to Josephine County commissioners.

“This is a desperate situation the counties are facing,” Walden said. “I think we all agree the status quo is unacceptable.” 

The proposal would designate much of the O&C land now under Bureau of Land Management control for long-term timber harvesting. Other O&C lands, including old-growth forests, would be off limits to cutting and be managed by the U.S. Forest Service.

The affected land would be managed by a trust in compliance with federal and state laws, including the Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act, DeFazio said. The general public would be represented on the Board of Trustees and its meetings would be open to the public.

Curry County Commissioner Bill Waddle attended Thursday’s session and described Curry County government’s dire financial condition.

He said the county’s budget must be slashed from $5 million to $3 million for the next fiscal year, beginning July 1.

There are 78 county employees in departments paid for from the general fund, Waddle said, and 40 of those jobs would have to be cut to meet the required budget level.

“Think of the effect on those 40 families and the ripple effect on Curry County,” he said. “That’s a 40 percent reduction in next year’s budget and we’re bare bones now. There is nothing left in the bucket.”

Waddle said the county must actually make $3 million in cuts to reach the target budget because it would have to pay $1 million in unemployment benefits to the workers who are terminated.

The O&C lands would be under direction of a Board of Trustees, with the general public being represented. Its meetings would be open to the public.

Management would comply with federal and state laws, including the Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act. Pesticide use would be minimal, according to DeFazio.

“We have a bill that is environmentally responsible and could provide cash flow to help get us off this roller coaster we’re on with federal revenues,” he said.

DeFazio added that the new proposal will be more successful than the Northwest Forest Plan has been in providing a sustainable supply of timber while protecting habitat critical to the survival of threatened species. 

DeFazio and Walden said they couldn’t discuss specific language of the bill because it’s being rewritten in the House committee. Nor could  they predict when the legislation might move out of committee and onto the House floor for debate and a possible vote.

However, they both expressed optimism that the bill can become law. They pointed to the bipartisan support that Waddle mentioned, and the fact that the House Resources chairman is Doc Hastings, a Republican from eastern Washington.

“He’s feeling that (economic) pressure as well,” Walden said. “We have an excellent chance of passing it in the House and having it coalesce in the Senate and getting it to the president’s desk.

“Who’s going to stand around and watch these counties go broke?”

While the congressmen and county officials talked inside the Josephine County Courthouse, two dozen local residents – some of them identifying themselves with Occupy Grants Pass – stood on the sidewalk in front of the building. They said they were not protesting the O&C proposal, but were using the presence of two House members to air their concerns about national economic policies.

The sound of honking horns was audible inside the courthouse as motorists signaled support for the demonstrators.

Officials walked past the demonstrators as they moved from the courthouse to the Anne G. Basker Auditorium next door for a press conference. Walden looked down as he passed, but DeFazio smiled at the signs, some of which read, “I don’t mind you being rich. I do mind you buying my government,” “Tax the rich,” and “Corporations are not people.”

During the press conference, those inside the auditorium could hear demonstrators’ chant of “We are the 99 percent.”

The Bill

The bill establishing an O&C Trust would create more than 12,000 new jobs in Oregon’s rural communities, according to U.S. Rep. Greg Walden.

It would continue the prohibition on exporting unprocessed logs from federal lands and would impose penalties on businesses that violate that law.

Other aspects of the bill include:

•Provides a sustainable level of timber harvesting to create and maintain jobs in the timber industry, with cutting done primarily on lands that have been previously harvested.

•Gives western Oregon counties a sustainable and more predictable level of revenue to support county services such as law enforcement along with health care, schools and transportation.

•Reduces counties’ dependence on uncertain federal support payments.

•Maintains federal ownership of the land and imposes strict management guidelines to ensure sustained yield and to protect clean water in addition to land and aquatic values.

•Proposes major wilderness and “wild and scenic” designations to protect some of Oregon’s most valuable natural areas such as the Rogue River.

•Provides protection for old-growth forests and transfers mature and old-grown forests from the Bureau of Land Management to the U.S. Forest Service