Elliott State Educational Forest: The Giesy Plan Alternative

Prepared by Wayne Giesy and Bob Zybach, PhD

Oregon Websites & Watersheds Project, Inc.

February 14, 2017

During the past three decades the Pacific Northwest has been involved in the “Timber Wars”: pitting loggers, their families, and traditional forestry practices against lawyers, federal agencies, and the Endangered Species Act (ESA) near its center. In that time the Elliott State Forest has become a victim of this conflict, having gone from a forest successfully managed to generate annual income for the Oregon School Fund to an unprofitable holding on the verge of being sold.

This proposal is to consider implementing a slightly modified version of the “Giesy Plan” in order to transparently demonstrate the value of such an approach in managing public forestlands. In this proposal the Elliott State Forest would continue in State ownership: it would be actively managed for a minimum 20-year period for Oregon School Fund income, but also be used for important short- and long-term forest management research and education opportunities with significant national forest management implications.

Former Department of State Lands Director, Jim Paul, has been quoted as saying: “The debate is by no means over, there’s a real conflict here that’s hard to reconcile.” We believe this proposal directly addresses this conflict in a scientific manner that directly benefits Oregon citizens, its schools and schoolchildren for an entire generation.

In today’s notes for the December 13, 2016 State Land Board Meeting, Governor Brown is quoted in the final paragraph as saying:

"Governor Brown said that it is appropriate for the Board to have another option . . . and that she calls upon the public to use their creativity, passion and time to pursue options for the Elliott that will craft a solution that will balance public ownership, rural natural resources jobs, conservation and recreational values . . . She said she is adamant about creating jobs, particularly in Coos and Douglas Counties, maintaining public access and preserving endangered species and their habitat. She told the audience that this is their opportunity to bring another option forward and encouraged thoughtful collaboration among everyone."

The proposed “Giesy Plan Alternative” would keep the Elliott in State hands and, first and foremost, immediately result in dozens of full-time local jobs, both direct and indirect; it would promote and enhance public recreational opportunities for the entire forest; it would provide more than 35,000 acres dedicated solely to spotted owls, marbled murrelets and old-growth habitat; it would focus on improving all four native coho runs; and it would scientifically, publicly, transparently – and profitably -- make clear to an entire generation of Oregon students, teachers, and interested citizens what the key differences and quantified results are when managing a forest for profit vs. managing it for old-growth habitat. This plan would also provide an excellent demonstration of potential management options of other publicly-owned forests in the western US.

Purpose and Background

The basic purpose of this plan would be to publicly demonstrate, document, and quantify the economic and ecological advantages and disadvantages of differing forest management philosophies. Intended audiences and participants for implementing this proposal include Oregon students, teachers, interested citizens, elected officials, and federal land managers.

As a general background, the Giesy Plan is a long-standing and well-known proposal by forester Wayne Giesy for better managing federal forestlands in the western US. This idea has been seriously discussed at high levels in recent years by elected officials and forest industry representatives. Prior to his unexpected resignation, it was being strongly considered for introduction (as the “Oregon Plan”) by Governor John Kitzhaber, Chair, to the 2015 Western Governor’s Conference: www.ORWW.org/Awards/2013/SAF/Wayne_Giesy/Oregon_Plan

Basic Giesy Plan Proposal

Divide the 80,000+ acres of the Elliott State Forest into 24-30 forested subbasins of 1,000 to 5,000 acres each (see Map 1), with contiguous polygons outlining the fish-bearing streams, floodplains, and riparian roads as a separate consideration (Map 2). The forested subbasins would be evenly divided by acreage into two categories:

1. Active forest management for maximum State School Fund income, as originally described by law, and

2. Old-growth wildlife habitat, with a focus on listed ESA species.

The excluded riparian areas would be managed separately, as a third category, for native fish, freshwater, recreation, and road access.

Each of these three divisions would be closely monitored by Oregon students and educators for a 20-year period, with specific focuses on economics, aesthetics, wildlife populations, recreational uses, and wildfire mitigation. Field trips and student research projects would be encouraged, and the entire forest and these topics would be closely monitored and documented by modern technical means with all observations and findings transparently shared via Internet.

1. All existing ridgeline and riparian roads would remain open to public access, with some daily and/or seasonal restrictions due to maintenance, repair, recreational events, or harvesting actions;

2. More than 40% of the land would be dedicated to old-growth forest habitat, and entire 100% of the forest would provide excellent habitat for a wide range of native forest wildlife species;

3. More than 40% of the land would be managed for maximum short-term and long-term revenue to the Oregon School Fund;

4. All of the Forests’ subbasins would be scientifically and transparently monitored so that the general public, in addition to Oregon students and teachers, could directly participate in -- and benefit by -- comprehensive economic and ecological analyses of the differing management approaches and results: www.ORWW.org/Wildfires/Biscuit/Civic_Science;

5. Litigation regarding the management of the forest would be banned for 20 years, by legal and political agreement, while this educational management experiment takes place.

Assuming this proposal is adopted, at the end of 20 years Oregon would have a very well informed citizenry, capable of making expert decisions regarding Elliott Forest management in following years; as well as able to help make better informed plans regarding management of regional federal forests from the start.

The Giesy Plan provides immediate income to schools (in which guided students might invest long-term as part of their learning experience?), immediate jobs for the local community, and real-life research and educational opportunities monitoring and documenting the three separate management approaches and decisions being made on the students’ “own” forestlands.