S. HRG. 111–682 OREGON FORESTS HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON PUBLIC LANDS AND FORESTS OF THE COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION TO RECEIVE TESTIMONY ON S. 2895, TO RESTORE FOREST LANDSCAPES, PROTECT OLD GROWTH FORESTS, AND MANAGE NATIONAL FORESTS IN THE EASTSIDE FORESTS OF THE STATE OF OREGON, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES BEND, OR, JUNE 4, 2010 ( Printed for the use of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 61–825 PDF WASHINGTON : 2010 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, http://bookstore.gpo.gov. For more information, contact the GPO Customer Contact Center, U.S. Government Printing Office. Phone 202–512–1800, or 866–512–1800 (toll-free). E-mail, [email protected]. COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES JEFF BINGAMAN, New Mexico, Chairman BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska RON WYDEN, Oregon RICHARD BURR, North Carolina TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas MARIA CANTWELL, Washington JAMES E. RISCH, Idaho ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona BLANCHE L. LINCOLN, Arkansas ROBERT F. BENNETT, Utah BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont JIM BUNNING, Kentucky EVAN BAYH, Indiana JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama DEBBIE STABENOW, Michigan BOB CORKER, Tennessee MARK UDALL, Colorado JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire ROBERT M. SIMON, Staff Director SAM E. FOWLER, Chief Counsel MCKIE CAMPBELL, Republican Staff Director KAREN K. BILLUPS, Republican Chief Counsel SUBCOMMITTEE ON PUBLIC LANDS AND FORESTS RON WYDEN, Oregon, Chairman TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana JAMES E. RISCH, Idaho MARIA CANTWELL, Washington JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey ROBERT F. BENNETT, Utah BLANCHE L. LINCOLN, Arkansas JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama MARK UDALL, Colorado BOB CORKER, Tennessee JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire JEFF BINGAMAN and LISA MURKOWSKI are Ex Officio Members of the Subcommittee (II) C O N T E N T S STATEMENTS Page Carrier, Michael, Natural Resources Policy Director, Office of the Governor, Salem, OR ............................................................................................................. 4 Franklin, Jerry F., Professor, Ecosystem Science, School of Forest Resources, University of Washington .................................................................................... 20 Hoeflich, Russell, Vice President and Oregon Director, The Nature Conser- vancy ..................................................................................................................... 31 Insko, Tom, Region Manager, Boise Cascade, LLC .............................................. 24 Lillebo, Tim, Eastern Oregon Field Representative, Oregon Wild ...................... 34 Maluski, Ivan, Conservation Program Coordinator, Oregon Chapter Sierra Club ....................................................................................................................... 58 Smith, Stanley, Chairman, Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs .................... 14 Unger, Alan, Deschutes County Commissioner .................................................... 1 Walls, James K., Executive Director, Lake County Resources Initiative ........... 28 Webb, Hon. Mark, Grant County Judge ................................................................ 9 Williams, King, Member, Gazelle Land & Timber, LLC ...................................... 43 Woodward, Craig, Owner, Woodward Companies, Prineville, OR ....................... 54 Wyden, Hon. Ron, U.S. Senator From Oregon ...................................................... 1 APPENDIXES APPENDIX I Responses to additional questions .......................................................................... 73 APPENDIX II Additional material submitted for the record ........................................................ 75 (III) OREGON FORESTS FRIDAY, JUNE 4, 2010 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON PUBLIC LANDS AND FORESTS, COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES, Bend, OR. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 1 p.m. in the Barnes Room of the Deschutes Public Services Center Building, 1300 NW Wall Street, Bend, Oregon, Hon. Ron Wyden presiding. STATEMENT OF ALAN UNGER, DESCHUTES COUNTY COMMISSIONER Mr. UNGER. Hello, my name is Alan Unger, your Deschutes County Commissioner. I’d like to welcome Senator Ron Wyden to Central Oregon. I want to thank Ron for bringing the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests to the heart of the area affected by this legislation. Eighty percent of Deschutes County is in public ownership. We need a Federal solution that all in Oregon will benefit from. Senator, your bipartisan approach that brings all to the table to find a solution is an example to all in Washington. It’s a formula for success and we all benefit by your leadership. Welcome to Central Oregon. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. RON WYDEN, U.S. SENATOR FROM OREGON Senator WYDEN. Alan, thank you very much for that really gra- cious introduction, and to all of you for giving up some time on a gorgeous Friday afternoon to come on out, and really appreciate it. I think you’re going to feel that this is, particularly listening to all of the folks who are going to testify today, this is the way you ought to try to move forward on major issues, where folks are working together and trying to reach out and find common ground. So with that, we will bring the subcommittee to order this after- noon. The Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests is meeting in beautiful Bend, Oregon. This week, folks, has been all about jobs. I started it off at a bio- refinery in Boardman. They’re talking about 250 good paying jobs there, it is going to be a cellulosic ethanol facility. Eventually we think it’s going to grow into a major biomass plant, because it bumps right up against the Umatilla National Forest. So this is an opportunity to create greener, better jobs for the future, and that’s how we started the week. (1) 2 After that, we went next to Shepherds Flat, which is of course in Eastern Oregon, where there’s going to be a new windmill project, possibly the largest windmill project in the world in East- ern Oregon, not in the United States, but in the world, another huge shot in the arm for the Oregon economy. The Oregon Con- gressional delegation there had a big challenge trying to deal with the Defense Department. It was a challenge, largely because they’d never had to deal with these kinds of issues in the past, and we made the case that this country could have both national security and energy security, and we were able to get that approved. Yesterday, as you may have seen, the Oregon Congressional dele- gation was in Newport, on the Oregon coast, where we announced that the government has entered into a final determination that Newport is the best place for a major research facility, 175 new jobs in Newport. Nobody thought Oregon could pull that off, either. They scoffed at us when they thought that little David in the Or- egon coast area could take on the Goliath up north. I said people who thought we could win on the Oregon coast, they were probably just folks who were a few fish short of their limit. Yet, once again, Oregon prevailed. So, that’s how we started this week, and today we’re going to turn to the question of trying to do the same kind of cooperative effort, this time in the forestry sector, building a partnership be- tween the private sector, State officials, local officials, and of course, the Federal Government. So the task today is to look at how to create new good-paying jobs in the woods, and particularly with a focus on eastern and cen- tral Oregon. My view is, we’ve got a lot to work with, because of the supportive coalition that has come together for this legislation, a coalition that this State has not seen in more than two decades of debating where to go in the forestry area. We now have support, through this coalition, from timber groups, such as the American Forest Resources Council, the Logging Company, Boise-Cascade, and our own John Shelk of Ochoco, here in Central Oregon. Envi- ronmental groups, Defenders of Wildlife, the National Center for Conservation Science and Policy, and Pacific Rivers Council, all join this effort as well, from the environmental community. So today we’re going to get testimony on the legislation, S. 2895, that these groups have all come together that is—behind to get saw logs to the mills, restore and create jobs, get the forest healthy again, and protect our treasured old growth. I’m very pleased that Senator Merkley has already signed on as a co-sponsor of this legislation, and it’s my intent to work very closely with the entire Oregon Congressional delegation to get this legislation passed in this Congress. Many of you know that folks worked on this bill for many, many months, and to get the coalition that we announced last December, to have timber executives standing shoulder to shoulder with lead- ers of the Oregon environmental community, everyone had to say it was time to break the gridlock. With each passing month, this group recognized that the failure to address the needs of Oregon’s increasingly unhealthy forest meant that they grow more and more at risk, at risk of preventable fire, insect infestation, and disease. 3 My own take about this debate that has gone on for decades, is that each side in the timber wars has now armed itself politically, so that they are sufficiently musculared