Skip to main contentEnvironmental groups are backing an agreement that would keep the Elliott State Forest public, including creating a 34,000-acre reserve, protecting and expanding old-growth forest, and reimbursing the state’s common school fund $121 million.
The forest was nearly sold in 2017, when Oregon State Treasurer Tobias Read, a Democrat, voted with then-Secretary of State Dennis Richardson, a Republican, to sell the land, which is rich in timber and held by the state to fund schools. Read reversed himself after pressure from environmental groups—and now he, Gov. Kate Brown and Secretary of State Shemia Fagan are backing Senate Bill 1546, which would turn the Elliott into a research forest managed by Oregon State University.
In three years, the environmental groups hashed out a deal with school funding advocates and logging groups.
“It has achieved consensus among diverse stakeholders, including conservation, timber, recreation and education interests, Tribes, and counties, on one of Oregon’s most conflicted and contested landscapes,” Audubon Society of Portland’s Bob Salinger and 22 other environmental groups wrote in a Jan. 21 letter to lawmakers.
“This work to establish the Elliott State Research Forest shows that Oregonians can come together, work around a common vision, disagree passionately about details, but still figure out a way to compromise and reach an outcome that represents a real win for Oregon,” Read says.
Related: We journeyed deep inside the Elliott State Forest, just when it appeared lost.
