The Oregonian: Conservation leader bolts from Kitzhaber's county payments panel

by Charles Pope, The Oregonian
Published October 4th, 2012
http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/10/conservation_leader_bolts_from.html

WASHINGTON – Gov. John Kitzhaber’s delicate effort to reach agreement for replacing the county timber payments program hit a bump Thursday when the leader of one conservation group refused to participate, denouncing it as an “effort to apply lipstick to a pig.”

The blast came from Andy Kerr, a well-known Oregon conservationist who Kitzhaber invited to join a panel of other environmentalists, county officials and timber interests to write a plan for using federal forests controlled by the Bureau of Land Management to fund payments to counties.

In a letter to Kitzhaber, however, Kerr declined, saying the starting point was fatally flawed because it would allow “clear cutting” on some federal land.

“I felt that the Governor’s necessary precondition of supporting clear-cutting as part of any possible solution he is willing to support to be unnecessary,” Kerr said in a statement. “Clear-cutting is so 20th Century.”

Kerr also said the three environmental groups that have accepted Kitzhaber’s invitation “collectively do not have the ability to deliver the necessary critical mass of conservation community support.”

The stakeholders are charged with crafting a blueprint based on a proposal offered by Reps. Peter DeFazio, Greg Walden and Kurt Schrader.

The plan would convert 1.5 million acres of Oregon and California Railroad Grant, the so-called O&C lands, to a "public trust" that would be managed by a committee selected by the governor. The trust property would be managed for commercial purposes with some of the revenue going to counties for such critical local functions as education and law enforcement.

Another large parcel would be managed as a conservation area. Walden, DeFazio and Schrader say they've charted a middle course that allows additional production while also including environmental protections. Their plan also would bestow federal protection to several pristine areas in the state, including 93 miles of the Rogue River and 15 miles of the Molalla River.

Whatever emerges will attempt to find a new source of income that once came from commercial logging. When the amount of timber harvested plummeted, Congress approved direct payments to the counties began beginning in 2000. Those payments end next year and if a replacement isn’t found, some counties could face bankruptcy. Congress must approve any plan, however.

Kerr says the plan is not balanced.

“As a card-carrying conservationist, I've compromised before and will do so again,” he said in an email interview.

“The federal component can involve federal public lands, but not if it involves effective privatization and industrialization such as clear-cutting,” he said.

Walden said in an interview Thursday that Kerr’s decision would not slow progress. DeFazio and a spokesman for Kitzhaber agreed, characterizing Kerr as a rogue actor who’s out of step with the larger conservation community.

“It’s time to move forward with Oregonians who want to fix this problem,” Walden said.

“We will work through this and I have no doubt we’ll succeed. This is just one person,” he said.

“Frankly, people who do not want a solution should not be at the table anyway,” DeFazio said in a statement. “It says a lot that Kerr doesn’t even want to have a conversation about this issue, unless it’s on his terms. That’s sad. This process demands compromise – something Kerr is apparently not interested in.”

Kitzhaber’s spokesman Tim Raphael said the governor is “disappointed and surprised” by Kerr’s decision, insisting that Kitzhaber is committed to properly balanced conservation and production.