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Tillamook Forest plan appears headed for ballot

http://www.katu.com/outdoor/story.asp?ID=66731

Tillamook Forest plan appears headed for ballot

By BRAD CAIN

SALEM, Ore. - Backers of a plan to set aside half the Tillamook and Clatsop forests to protect drinking water, salmon and recreational uses predict they will qualify the measure for the Nov. 2 ballot.

The deadline for turning in petition signatures is July 2, but the Tillamook plan's sponsors said Monday the campaign is going so well that they plan to submit their signatures a month from now.

It would require 75,630 valid signatures to qualify the measure. "It feels good to voters. They are eager to sign our petitions," said Mari Anne Gest, co-chief petitioner for the measure that's been dubbed the "50-50" plan by sponsors.

They say the measure represents a balanced approach because it calls for devoting 50 percent of the state forests to logging and setting aside the other 50 percent for recreation, tourism and clean drinking water.

Timber interests and local government officials who oppose the plan say it's anything but balanced. They say it would sharply curtail logging, resulting in job losses and lost revenue for local government services.

"They've got a bumper sticker ballot title that sounds good but it doesn't say what the measure really does," said Pat McCormick, a Portland political consultant advising the measure's opponents.

It appears the measure will generate a high-profile, expensive campaign.

Gest said environmental and some business groups who are paying petition carriers to gather signatures are prepared to underwrite a fall media campaign.

"It will be well over $1 million," she said. McCormick, for his part, said timber interests and other opponents also are planning a well-funded, "vigorous" campaign to defeat the measure.

The initiative comes less than a year after the 2003 Legislature considered a bill that would have allowed logging to double in the north coast forests.

The measure easily won approval in the Republican-controlled House after supporters said it would create 4,000 jobs for Oregon's ailing economy.

But it died in the Senate after Democrats and Gov. Ted Kulongoski called it a shortsighted response to the state's budget crisis.

Gest said the initiative plan has the support of a growing list of business and conservation groups because it takes an evenhanded approach that still makes 50 percent of the forests available for logging.

"We're saying that logging is important to the economy, but it's not more important than clean water, fish and wildlife and recreation," she said.

But Tillamook County Commissioner Tim Josi said the plan could sharply curtail logging because the 50 percent that's set aside for logging might include 23 percent of the land that is off-limits to logging because it lies in wetlands, steep slopes or other areas.

"A lot of family wage jobs would be lost in Tillamook, Clatsop and Columbia counties,' Josi said. "The impact on the counties would be phenomenal."