Oregon Public Broadcasting

Eighteen counties in Western Oregon have proposed federal legislation they say would preserve over a million acres of old growth forest, while selling a million acres of less ecologically sensitive federal land. 

The proceeds would create a permanent trust to replace the money counties came to rely on from timber payments.

It would also help fund a 10-year reauthorization of The Secure Rural Schools and County Self Determination Act -- set to expire next year.

But the proceeds from the sale would only cover half that bill.  Congress would have to come up with the rest.

Doug Robertson represents the counties behind the plan.  He says for years elected officials have grappled with the question of what to do with these particular lands.

He says they have a different legal standing than other public lands. Robertson says study after study was commissioned but in the end little was done.

Doug Robertson: “And at the same time we’re seeing the jobless rate grow, we’re seeing mills close we’re seeing dislocation in our communities.  And we felt it was simply time to put a plan on the table to start the discussion about something specific.”

Robertson anticipates the plan will have detractors. 

Representative Peter DeFazio told the Bend Bulletin he doesn’t think the proposal will gain much support in Congress.