WASHINGTON — After months of anticipation, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., unveiled Tuesday his plan to create a sustainable timber harvest on more than two million acres of federally owned forests in Western Oregon.

Wyden’s proposed legislation, The Oregon and California Land Grant Act of 2013, would replace the 1937 law that governs the Oregon & California Railroad Grant lands. Originally slated for the development of an interstate railroad, the lands were reclaimed by the government and placed under the supervision of the Bureau of Land Management. Unlike other parts of the national forest system, the O&C lands were specifically to be managed so that their timber harvests helped support the local governments of the 18 Western Oregon counties that contained O&C land — much of it in a checkerboard pattern.

Wyden told reporters the BLM had analyzed his proposal, and concluded it would produce average timber harvests of up to 350 million board feet per year. This doubles the average production over the last decade, he said.

“This bill is first and foremost about jobs in the private sector, (and) getting people back to work,” he said.

Wyden’s plan would leave roughly half the O&C lands off limits for timbering. It would also create 57,000 acres of wilderness at Devil’s Staircase and expand the Wild Rogue Wilderness area by 30,000 acres, as well as extend the wild and scenic designation on various rivers by 165 miles.

The remaining area would be managed under the principles of ecological forestry, where harvests attempt to create a healthier, more diverse forest. In harvested areas, loggers would be required to leave at least one-third of the trees standing and old growth stands in moist forests would be left intact if they were more than 120 years old. Any tree more than 150 years old could never be cut down.

Wyden also attempts to streamline timber sales by requiring the BLM to issue two environmental impact statements — one for wet forests, one for dry — within 18 months of the bill’s enactment. Once finalized, those determinations would be in effect for 10 years at a time.

The idea, Wyden said, is to give every interested party “one bite at the apple” in an effort to curtail lengthy litigation over each individual timber sale. Knowing environmental issues were settled for a decade would give the timber industry the predictability needed to commit to invest in local projects, he said.

In September, the House of Representatives passed a sweeping forest management bill that included a section on the O&C lands written by Reps. Greg Walden, R-Hood River, Peter DeFazio, D-Springfield, and Kurt Schrader, D-Canby. Under the House bill, half the O&C lands would be protected and half would go into a private trust, which would be open to logging under Oregon’s forest practices law.

The White House has threatened to veto the House bill. With provisions that would remove the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act from applying to lands in the trust, the House bill is a non-starter in the Senate, said Wyden, who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Wyden’s announcement met with mixed reactions from local stakeholders.

In a prepared statement, Gov. John Kitzhaber thanked Wyden for his work on “one of the most intractable natural resources issues facing our state.”

“I am pleased that the Senator’s bill incorporates and improves on the many concepts that Oregonians and I believe are required for long-term solutions to the O&C issue,” said Kitzhaber, who pledged to work with federal lawmakers on the issue in 2014.

O&C Counties Association president and Douglas County Commissioner Doug Robertson said the organization will go over Wyden’s proposal line by line, hoping it will adhere to the group’s core principles: a high level of certainty to help reduce lawsuits and appeals; a steady flow of timber that provides jobs and economic stability for timber-dependent communities; and a reasonable funding level for O&C county governments.

“Until that review is completed, the Association remains steadfastly supportive of the Trust, Conservation and Jobs Act sponsored by Congressman DeFazìo, Congressman Walden and Congressman Schrader,” Robertson said.

Tom Partin, president of the American Forest Resource Council, a timber industry group, noted that recent harvests, which fall far short of the 1.2 billion board feet the industry maintains can be sustainably cut each year, have created economic turmoil across many O&C communities.

“At first glance, it appears that Senator Wyden’s proposal falls short of providing our communities the level of legal certainty, jobs, and county revenues they deserve and have been promised,” Partin said in a prepared statement. “While it won’t be easy, we look forward to working with Senator Wyden and the entire Oregon delegation to find a comprehensive and permanent solution.”

In a joint release, conservation groups Oregon Wild and the Sierra Club praised the protections for drinking water, but said the “controversial” ecological forest management blueprint allowed clear cutting of trees up to 120 years old.

“We must strongly oppose this bill because it is so heavily weighted towards clearcut logging and weakening environmental safeguards,” said Oregon Wild conservation director Steve Pedery. “Senator Wyden has a long history as an environmental champion, which is why this legislation is disappointing.”

“We cannot clear-cut our way to prosperity,” added Rhett Lawrence, conservation director for the Sierra Club Oregon Chapter. “This bill will not solve the counties’ financial problems, but it will put Oregon’s clean water, wildlife and salmon runs at risk.”

Reporter: 202-662-7456,aclevenger@bendbulletin.com