Coos Bay Wagon Road Lands

History

The Coos Bay Wagon Road Lands (CBWR) were originally granted to the Oregon & California Railroad in 1866. They include odd-numbered sections in a six-mile swath between Coos Bay and Roseburg, Oregon. The grant, which was intended to finance construction of a military road between the two towns, was forfeited by the railroad for violating grant provisions identical to those that caused the revestment of the O&C lands.^[1] On February 26, 1919 federal legislation was enacted^[2] to reconvey to the United States approximately 73,583 acres of land in Coos County and Douglas County, Oregon that had been conveyed by the United States to the Coos Bay Wagon Road. Congress enacted the Act of August 28, 1937 directing the Secretary of Interior to manage the reconveyed Coos Bay Wagon Road lands for permanent forest production under the principle of sustained yield, for the purpose of providing a permanent source of timber supply, protecting watersheds, regulating stream flow, and contributing to the economic stability of local communities and industries, and providing recreational facilities, and establishing a formula to pay revenues from forest production on the reconveyed Coos Bay Wagon Road lands to Coos County and Douglas County in lieu of taxes in proportion to the relative assessed value of the reconveyed lands in each county.

Forest management and county revenue

The Coos Bay Wagon Road Lands are currently managed by the Bureau of Land Management, housed in the U.S. Department of the Interior. The CBWR and O&C lands have both been subject to significant litigation over the management of timber resources, a portion of whose revenues are shared with local counties for public services. As litigation increased over the harvest of public timber in the Northwest in the late 1980s, Congress recognized that the potential reduction in timber sale volume and revenues associated with the controversy would cause extreme financial uncertainty for the O&C counties (including the two counties with CBWR). To stabilize payments to these counties, appropriations language in 1991, 1992, and 1993 included provisions for a “floor” payment to the O&C counties. The “floor” was equal to the annual average payments covering the five year period between 1986 to 1990. In 1994, the Northwest Forest Plan was established to provide a stable supply of timber and protection of fish and wildlife habitat for 22.1 million acres of federal forest in western Oregon, western Washington, and northern California (2.7 million acres of BLM-administered forests).^[3] However, even these lower levels of timber harvest did not materialize. Congress once again created a county payment "safety net" and, in 2000, payments to O&C counties have been legislated under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self- Determination Act (Public Law 06-393).

Forest management pilot project

In 2011, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar endorsed the Coquille Indian Tribe of Oregon and the Coos Bay District of the Bureau of Land Management working together to develop a demonstration timber sale pilot on federal forest lands along Coos Bay Wagon Road in coordination with two professors. The pilot project will demonstrate the ecosystem principles of Norm Johnson, professor of forestry resources at Oregon State University, and Jerry Franklin, professor of ecosystem science at the University of Washington. These principles include variable retention regeneration harvest in the Oregon coast range. Under the terms of the demonstration project, the Coquille Tribe and BLM will work together to plan and implement the project, combining the skills of Drs. Johnson and Franklin and the BLM and Coquille Tribe’s natural resource professionals. Resulting timber sales will comply with all BLM requirements. The Coos County Coos Bay Wagon Road lands are part of the Coquille Tribe’s ancestral homeland. The pilot project will include about 59,000 acres.

Proposal to change forest management of CBWR

In 2011, a coalition of local interests coalesced around a proposal to increase the revenues generated from the CBWR in order to provide Coos County with a stable amount of funding. The proposal, supported by Coos County Board of Commissioners, would keep the CBWR in BLM ownership. However, management of the timber on 51,000 acres would be transferred to the Coquille Indian Tribe and managed under the National Indian Forest Resources Management Act. Fifty-percent of timber revenues would be given to Coos County. The other fifty-percent would pay for forest management and restoration and investment in local economic development.

References

1. ^ Federal lands: a guide to planning, management, and state revenues By Sally K. Fairfax, Carolyn E. Yale, Council of State Governments. Western Office
2. ^ 40 Stat. 1179
3. ^ http://www.blm.gov/or/rac/ctypayhistory.php