The complicated process to establish the Elliott State Research Forest remains complicated.
The Elliott is a tract of 91,000 state-owned forested acres in the Oregon Coast Range in Coos and Douglas Counties, and it is home to protected species northern spotted owl, marbled murrelet, and Oregon Coast coho. The Elliott has a long history of logging and litigation and failed attempts to sell the forest off to the highest bidder. In 2017, after an attempt by the State Land Board to sell the forest for $220.8 million was met with public uproar, the State agreed to keep the forest in public hands. In 2018, the State decided to pursue transferring the Elliott to Oregon State University (OSU) as a “research forest.”
The idea of a research forest is not new, and there are many such forests managed around the world for scientific research. The Elliott, however, would be the largest in the U.S. and certainly among the largest anywhere. The research potential is enormous, but if badly designed and managed, the damage to the forest environment could be significant.
Practically all state forest lands in Oregon are managed by the State Land Board for the purposes of generating revenue for Oregon schools. About 90% of the Elliott is held as an asset for Oregon’s Common School Fund. This coupling is traced back to the original grant of lands to Oregon by the federal government as a condition of statehood, and is enshrined in the Oregon State Constitution. In 2018, the Land Board agreed to “decouple” the Elliott in exchange for a large reimbursement payment to the Common School Fund. About half of this payment was financed through a bond sale approved by the Oregon state legislature in 2017 and sold in 2019.
However, the day-to-day, year-to-year, long term management of a research forest of this scale is a large and uncertain operation. And state leaders have insisted that the forest be “self-supporting.” These financial concerns have led OSU to reconsider its ownership of the forest, with the suggestion that a public corporation similar to Oregon Health and Sciences University (OHSU) might be a better candidate for ownership. OSU still strongly supports the idea of managing the research forest but it will take legislation to settle the management and ownership issues.
The Chapter and our partners in the environmental community will continue to insist that any ownership solution be open, transparent, and with clear lines of accountability to the public. But ultimately, the success of a research forest will be a result of successful, and hopefully visionary, research management. Research should be grounded in good science, well-monitored, without conflicts of interest, and designed for timelines appropriate for establishing old growth in a forest. Forest research shouldn’t be managed for a fiscal year calendar.
Finally, research and forest management in this century should be climate-centered. It is increasingly clear that the highest and best economic use for a large forest tract like the Elliott is not logging, but rather as a valuable way to store carbon. Making any forest “self-supporting” will look quite different in this new climate-threatened economy. Research based in obsolete “timber wars” ways of thinking would be a tragically lost opportunity.
In any event, the Oregon Chapter has weighed in on the issue before, and plans to weigh in again. Stay tuned for more developments as the fate of the Elliott is resolved.
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We’re putting together a new email list focused on forest issues in Oregon. Send an email to illinoisvalley@oregon.sierraclub.org and we’ll sign you up.
The Oregon Chapter’s legislative team is gearing up to engage with lawmakers when the Elliott issue hits the legislative arena. Email legislativecommittee@oregon.sierraclub.org to find out how you can help.