Oregon seeks dismissal of timber management lawsuit

ALBANY, Ore. — Oregon wants a court to dismiss a lawsuit from Linn County that alleges the state has failed to live up to decades-old contracts allowing counties to receive payments based on annual timber harvests from state-managed lands.

The county asserts that it and other timber-rich counties have been deprived of more than $1.4 billion because a forest management plan adopted more than a decade ago emphasized improvements to fish and wildlife habitat and other conservation measures, which reduced logging and slashed timber revenue in half.

Sarah Weston, an attorney for Oregon, argued Monday in Linn County that the case should be tossed because the forests are meant to be managed for the greatest permanent value, which includes factors beyond timber production.

“The statute does not require revenue maximization,” she said, according to the Capital Press newspaper. “The statutes have always provided for multiple values and multiple uses.”

Counties acquired the lands by foreclosing on property tax liens during the Great Depression. They turned them over to state ownership in exchange for a portion of future logging revenue.

John DiLorenzo, an attorney representing Linn County, said the counties would not have donated the land if they had known the state would change the terms of the deal.

“We believe that’s precisely what the state has done in this case,” DiLorenzo said. “Counties must have a way to enforce their bargains.”

Linn County also contends that the lawsuit should be certified as class action, which would allow other timber counties to participate. That issue will be heard at a hearing scheduled for Aug. 17 in Albany.