Gov. John Kitzhaber proposed increasing timber harvests on state forests to prevent industry jobs from being lost to China.
Gov. John Kitzhaber proposed increasing timber harvests on state forests to prevent industry jobs from being lost to China.
Private land owners account for the vast majority of timber harvests and, unlike state-owned forests, are not legally required to mill their logs in the United States. Private-land harvests are often sent whole to China for milling.
“This amounts to nothing more than exporting our natural capital and jobs,” Kitzhaber said.
It’s necessary to increase harvests in state forests, Kitzhaber said, in part to protect struggling mills, but it’s also important for the state to find other revenue streams, such as selling the forest’s carbon credits on the open market.
Read more at The Forest Grove News-Times.
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