SALEM — A fourth-generation Crook County rancher urged lawmakers Thursday to pass legislation dubbed the “Wildfire Protection Act,” saying it could help his family continue to work the land for the next 100 years.

“We put our whole careers into the forest,” John Breese said of his ranch/timber property.

The risk, he noted, can be great.

“And it can be wiped out in a flash,” he said.

Breese urged lawmakers to pass House Bill 2050, which would help split the cost of fighting large fires more evenly between private landowners and the state.

The state’s Department of Forestry is responsible for fighting fires on about 16 million acres of state and privately owned forestland. The fire protection is jointly funded both by the landowners and public dollars, through the state’s general fund.

But for years, the state’s private timberland owners felt they were paying the bulk of the costs to fight those fires.

Now, there is momentum to more evenly split the costs of fires on those 16 million acres between the state and private landowners.

The state also hopes that by focusing more heavily on fighting fires early, it can prevent larger fires and keep costs down.

“It’s in recognition that it’s good to have fire-protected resilient forestland and that when you have those, there are … public benefits, clean air, jobs, wildlife habitat,” said Dan Postrel, spokesman for the forestry department.

Private owners pay for fire protection through assessments on their property, taxes on harvests and surcharges.

The bill has different components, said Postrel, but the centerpiece is to beef up fire protection on the “initial attack” to prevent small fires from becoming bigger.

It would take $2 million in general fund dollars and combine them with $3 million of landowner dollars to put toward the “initial attack” on fires, with the hopes of keeping them small.

This leveraging of private and state dollars is particularly relevant in Central and Eastern Oregon, Postrel said, where the timber land doesn’t generate as much revenue and lightning-caused fires are more prevalent.

The bill would also include $1.6 million from the general fund for the 2013-15 biennium for more resources to fight fires.

Kenneth Cummings, the chair of the emergency fire community, told lawmakers it’s a good move for the entire state. Everyone appreciates having healthy, green forests instead of charred black ones, he said.

“The choking smoke last summer in (Sisters) didn’t improve anyone’s visitor experience,” he said, speaking of the Pole Creek Fire.

Right now, landowners are on the hook to pay the first $10 million of the deductible to fight wildfires. The state pays the next $15 million and the insurance policy kicks in at $25 million. Not since 2002 has the $25 million deductible been met. Forestry department officials have also said that in the last five years, actual fire costs have been about $8 million a year. That means sharing of large fire costs has basically been borne by the landowners.

Kristina McNitt, the executive director of the Oregon Forest Industries Council, told lawmakers that for too long, landowners have been paying millions more than the state.

The bill would also lower the deductible before the insurance kicks in to $20 million.

Gov. John Kitzhaber wrote a letter in favor of the bill, which no one testified against.

“HB 2050 is essential to a broader vision of ensuring Oregon’s privately held forests and the public benefits they provide remain productive, protected from fire impacts, and resistant to pressure to convert to other uses,” he wrote.

The House Agriculture Committee moved to pass the bill to the joint Ways and Means Committee.