Skip to main contentWhen it comes to the spotted owl, Ted Kulongoski finds himself in a situation that's almost as tenuous as that of the threatened bird.
As a candidate, he promised his administration would "lead by example" in following environmentally "sustainable" practices, and he pledged support for several measures that could slow or halt the disappearance of the owl from state-owned forest land.
As governor, he's under pressure from cash-strapped rural counties who want the most cutting possible in state and federal forests.
Four months into his administration, environmentalists are nervously waiting for Kulongoski to signal where he'll come down. His landing spot could determine whether the owl makes a recovery in Oregon--or disappears altogether.
The woodland equivalent of the canary in the coal mine, the spotted owl swooped below the public's radar screen as the timber wars of the early '90s faded. In federal forests, reforms in timber practices have slowed their decline. A study of the owl population in the Clatsop State Forest, however, showed a drop of more than 40 percent between 1995 and 1999. As of last year, the state knew of only 23 birds on state land in the Tillamook region.
Eric Forsman, a leading owl biologist with the U.S. Forest Service, says survival of owls on state land is particularly important in northwestern Oregon, where the Tillamook and Clatsop state forests are the only publicly owned timberland around.
But the owl has competition--namely, the timber industry, which cuts state-owned trees in exchange for kicking in a portion of its profits to the state and the counties where those trees were cut. (Logging companies contributed at least $30,000 to Kulongoski's campaign, campaign records show.)
State and federal biologists have long criticized the Oregon Department of Forestry's oversight of logging practices in the Tillamook region (see "The Coast Is Clearcut," WW, March 6, 2002). That's why, in wooing environmentalists in his primary campaign against Beverly Stein and Jim Hill, Kulongoski made protection of those forests a key issue at a March 17, 2002, candidates forum hosted by the Oregon Sierra Club.
Specifically, Kulongoski came out in favor of halting the clear-cutting of older stands of trees in the Tillamook and Clatsop state forests, habitat that's crucial to the owls' survival. He also embraced the idea of the creation of "reserves" in the Tillamook region, where there would be no cutting or motorized vehicles allowed.
"This is one of maybe the only unreserved temperate rainforests left in the lower 48 states," he said. "I do think that the state has to step back and look at exactly what we're doing right now, to make sure that we're not [damaging] something irreplaceable."
Kulongoski even promised to tackle the chainsaw-happy leanings of the Oregon Department of Forestry, which oversees the Tillamook, Clatsop and other state forests. He described the agency as "in a culture that is the way Oregon was 30 or 40 or 50 years ago."
However, it appears to many environmentalists that ODF is calling the shots in the governor's office. This is in stark contrast to the tenure of former Gov. John Kitzhaber, who championed environmental causes, particularly salmon protection, and who used his post as a bully pulpit to oppose the Bush administration's attempt to boost cutting in federal forests.
Kulongoski is "depending on the agencies to help him write policy, and when it comes to forest policy, that means ODF," says Sybil Ackerman of the Audubon Society of Portland. "That's a big difference from Kitzhaber."
Indeed, instead of installing someone to change the culture at ODF, Kulongoski in January tapped the head of ODF, Jim Brown, to be his top environmental adviser--to environmentalists' dismay.
Asked whether ODF needed to be more attentive to biologists' concerns, Brown told WW that ODF's management of state forests is already adequate. Brown also said that Kulongoski opposes reserves and supports the status quo for how ODF manages state forests. That presumably includes the clear-cutting of older stands--which Kulongoski had opposed on the campaign trail.
Mary Ellen Glynn, the governor's spokeswoman, hadn't seen the videotape of Kulongoski's comments before the Sierra Club. "I don't feel like we can comment on something until we know what he said," she says.
Meanwhile, environmentalists are raising money for a 2004 ballot initiative that would create reserves in the Tillamook and Clatsop state forests by setting aside half its territory for wildlife purposes, which they say would allow historic timber harvest levels to continue while protecting owls.
Donald Fontenot, one of those working on the initiative, was among those present when Kulongoski made his pledge to create reserves in the Tillamook. "We hope he follows through on his promise," he says. "That way we won't have to do a ballot initiative."
WWeek 2015