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83rd OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2025 Regular Session
Senate Joint Memorial 5
Sponsored by Senator SMITH DB (Presession filed.)
SUMMARY
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject
to consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor’s brief statement of the essential features of the
measure as introduced.The statement includes a measure digest written in compliance with applicable readability
standards.
Digest: The measure concerns timber. The measure asks the President and Congress to take
certain actions. The measure explains that revenues from timber have declined. (Flesch Readability
Score: 61.2).
Urges the President and Congress to pursue Oregon and California Railroad grant land man-
agementreforms.
JOINTMEMORIAL
To the President of the United States and the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United
States of America, in Congress assembled:
We, your memorialists, the Eighty-third Legislative Assembly of the State of Oregon, in legisla-
tive session assembled, respectfully represent as follows:
Whereas the revested Oregon and California Railroad grant lands, commonly known as O&C
lands, which are managed predominantly by the Bureau of Land Management, were once privately
owned but were returned to federal ownership in 1916 and now constitute more than 2.4 million
acres of legally unique federal lands that are intended to be used for sustained yield timber pro-
duction, to produce revenues that are shared with counties and to create and sustain jobs in rural
Oregon communities; and
Whereas O&C lands once provided revenues vital to the economic survival of many county
governments in Oregon; and
Whereas the O&C Act of 1937, which governs the bureau’s management of O&C lands, states
that all the timberlands shall be managed for sustained yield production and also mandates a mini-
mum harvest each year of 500 million board feet; and
Whereas timber harvests have been reduced by 90 percent over recent decades, which has re-
sulted in a drastic decline in revenues from those lands and left many of the 18 Oregon counties in
which O&C lands are located without adequate revenues to provide essential public services and
employment opportunities; and
Whereas because of the loss of federal timber sales revenue, the counties have suffered a peril-
ous loss of jobs and infrastructure due to sawmill and peeling mill closures and the disappearance
of other forest-based industries and have been forced to lay off law enforcement officers and public
health providers and mental health providers, close county correctional facilities and dramatically
reduce all other county services; and
Whereas the bureau has signed a Record of Decision finalizing the new Resource Management
Plans for Western Oregon that further limit sustainable, active management of O&C lands and limit
the ability of counties to provide public services required under the O&C Act of 1937; and
Whereas the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000 expired Sep-
NOTE:Matter in boldfaced type in an amended section is new; matter [italic and bracketed] is existing law to be omitted.
New sections are in boldfaced type.
LC 2732 SJM5
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tember 30, 2015, leaving counties to rely on shared timber receipts from O&C lands—at an 86 per-
cent reduction from the historical payment average; and
Whereas the transfer of services from financially distressed counties to the State of Oregon will
adversely affect public education, human services and other state-supported services; and
Whereas a much higher level of timber harvest than is planned by the bureau’s new resource
management plans can be achieved while still providing for the recovery of endangered species, in-
creasing carbon storage and providing clean water, fish habitat and a wide range of recreational
opportunities;and
Whereas members of the Oregon Congressional Delegation have proposed plans that would re-
sult in stable county revenues in an effort to avoid the financial crises currently confronting many
Oregon counties and assist in the revival of the ailing economies in the 18 O&C counties; now,
therefore,
Be It Resolved by the Legislative Assembly of the State of Oregon:
That we, the members of the Eighty-third Legislative Assembly, urge the President and the
Congress of the United States of America to reform federal management of revested Oregon and
California Railroad grant lands to provide certainty and predictability to Oregon counties in which
O&C lands are located; and be it further
Resolved, That a copy of this memorial with original signatures shall be sent to the President
of the United States and to each member of the Oregon Congressional Delegation.
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