Redefining our
relationship with the Forest (National Forest): The 1897 “Organic Act” established the
original purposes for the National Forests as: 1) to
insure "a continuous supply of timber for the use and necessities of United States
citizens"; and 2) to secure favorable conditions of water flows. A 1971 legal case, Sierra
Club v. Hardin, also determined that
the Secretary of Agriculture could consider the economic well-being of the
citizens of a state wherein timber is located in administering national forest lands.
When I first moved
to Siskiyou County in the mid-1980s, there were many mill-towns. As a
reporter, I remember going to meetings on local National Forest planning, and I remember
the regional debate over the northern spotted owl and the Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP.)
Looking around today, although government managed lands still occupy about 63% of the
county’s land-base, it is clear that things are changed.
All the lumber saw mills are
gone. Many of the U.S. Forest Service staff have gone with them, along with much of the
capacity to assemble a timber sale. Talk is now about maintaining Wilderness trails to
destinations for backpackers on the Pacific Crest Trail.
As the availability of Forest
resources for local “productive” economic use has withered, this has had a
profound effect on many former mill-towns. In the Klamath River corridor, the effects of change are probably the most
dramatic. Here, almost one third of the jobs were mill related. According to a 2004 study,
in the aftermath of the NWFP, this area experienced a
population decline of 22%. The number of residents aged 0-4 and 20-29 dropped by over 50%,
while those aged 5-19 and 30-44 dropped 45%. There was an accompanying drop of 41.8% in
school enrollment. In contrast, the populations aged 45-64 grew 86%. In addition, median
household income declined from $31,236 to $20,924 - a drop of 33%. The number of
households earning less than $10,000 grew by 24%. Unemployment climbed from 16.18% to
19.60% in 2000.
The relationship of the Forest
and the County has also changed. Recognizing that National Forest lands in a County: (1)
may limit Forest-dependent communities from growth and the creation of a local
self-sustaining tax base; (2) require services for which they pay little, if any, taxes;
and (3) remove resources from economic development under a private free-market economy; a
system was devised by Congress to allocate 25% of the revenue from products sold off the
Forests to the County for schools and roads. For instance, in 1989/90, Siskiyou County
government received $4.2 million in these revenues – primarily from timber harvest.
In the aftermath of the NWFP, these revenues plummeted.
To compensate for the impact that the NWFP had on rural
county revenues from the Forest, Congress passed the Secure Rural Schools
and Community Self-Determination Act . This was to provide a temporary bridge until new
targeted harvests were forthcoming. In 2003-04, Siskiyou county received a total of $9,106,000 in revenues from this act. About
$3,870,000 went to county schools and an equal amount to county roads. Approximately
$686,500 went to the Siskiyou County Resource Advisory Committee (RAC) and another
$686,500 to offset impacts of County services for search and rescue, fire and other
departmental expenses related to the National Forest. Without reauthorization, this Act
will sunset in 2006, leaving Siskiyou County to deal with the fact that the promised replacement
harvest levels and economies have never materialized.
Back in the mid-1990s,
the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors appointed a multi-stakeholder committee to write
the County’s Comprehensive Land and Resource Management Plan (CLRMP.) The document
recognized that traditionally, our citizens have survived, and supported families and
communities, around the primary economic activities of land and natural resource
development - including, but not limited to: ranching, farming, timber harvesting, mining,
hunting, trapping fishing, tourism and recreation. Many of the relationships that user
groups have developed with their environment have become cultural practices.
The CLRMP recognizes that communities, groups and
families need continued stable and secure access to the Forest
for development of its resources in order to find employment for their skills, sustain
their families, lifestyles and culture, and to have healthy and vibrant communities. The
CLRMP established that the County’s expectations were that National Forest management
would include specific objectives for measurable commodity outputs – such as: million
board feet of timber (MMBF,) animal unit months (AUMs,) number of recreational user days,
etc. In addition, the County passed an ordinance - Title 10 Planning and Zoning, Chapter
12 County Participation in State and Federal
Agencies Land Transactions to establish its government to government role in the
management of federal lands.
On April 25, the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors
will hold a public workshop starting at 9:00
a.m. at the County courthouse on our local
National Forests. The Klamath National
Forest and the Shasta Trinity National
Forest Supervisors will be there as our partners to begin to explore opportunities for new
economic relationships and partnerships between the Forest
and our local communities, businesses and other groups. We will look at the drastic loss
of revenues to the County and our schools and where we can go from here. Perhaps you can
help us to establish the outputs you need from the Forest. |
