Marvin Brown, Oregon’s state forester and supervisor of the state’s Fire Protection Division, has been forced to resign by the Board of Forestry. Here is an excerpt from an article at NPR:
The state Board of Forestry voted unanimously Tuesday to replace State Forester Marvin Brown. The decision comes during a tumultuous year for the agency.
Tensions boiled this year between the environmental community and the Forestry Department over a decision to expand logging on state forests. Separately, a three-judge federal panel ruled against the agency in August in a lawsuit over runoff from logging roads. Forestry Board Chair John Blackwell didn’t cite either of those situations after a brief meeting to replace Marvin Brown. But Blackwell said the Board wants a State Forester who will work more closely with key constituencies.
John Blackwell: “Often, fresh ideas and fresh faces can just build those kinds of relationships that we need.”
The move won praise from environmentalists like Bob Van Dyk with the Wild Salmon Center.
Bob Van Dyk: “We’re certainly excited about a fresh start. We think there’s room to move beyond some of the conflict.”
Brown was at the helm of the Department of Forestry for seven years. He’ll get paid through December but an Acting Director will take control immediately.
Owners of timber lands were upset by the Department of Forestry’s “juniper tax” which was a move to reduce the fire danger from juniper slash in eastern Oregon, but increased land owners costs for firefighting services.
Sounds like he upset both the non-forestry environmental community through harvesting policies, AND the forest landowners in Oregon through an unpopular tax. Lose two constituencies that size and most state foresters are going to be out. (The third leg of the stool is the forest products industry, and the post doesn’t mention that leg at all.)
I am tired of environmentalists, lawyers, and judges who don’t know anything about forestry.
I am tired of trying to get along with environmentalists.
I am tired of always giving into their demands that never end.
I am tired of mega fires.
I am tired of sick and dying forests.
I am tired of wasting tax payers money on environmentalists.
I am tired of seeing bug/fire kill salvage go to waste.
I am tired of seeing mill towns become ghost towns.
Congratulations, now you have run off a great person who loves the forests of Oregon. I hope someday what goes around comes around.
Lawyers and Judges are not supposed to know anything about Forestry: they are supposed to know about the LAW as it was passed by our Legislators, and be sure that the law of the land is being faithfully executed by agencies (like those in Natural Resources). Environmentalists know how to read the law and observe what is happening on the ground: when those two factors are out of alignment, they petition the Judges to make the Agencies enforce the Laws as written.
That all said, I was once a Pre-Sale forester on a large National Forest in western Oregon during the early 1970’s, and saw (and did) things that could only be described as “get the cut out” rather than good Forestry. The result of our actions then are the laws and regulations we now have to live with.
I too am tired of lots of things, like the 1872 Mining Act, the $1.50 per month that cattlemen pay to graze on Public lands (I pay $20/month for cow-calf pairs)and the abuse of sensitive lands and good hunting habitat by “motor-heads” operating ATVs where they are not allowed.
The money we “waste” on environmentalists is a pittance compared to the contracts we give out in the Military-Industrial complex, or to “security firms” like Blackwater.
I don’t live in Oregon any more, nor do I know Marvin Brown: I have some understanding of the Oregon Board of Forestry, and they can hardly be accused of being a hotbed of Environmentalism.
Just one person’s opinion……!
Those units you layout in the 70’s got planted and thined, plus the money went into the US treasury, also look at all the jobs that came from your work.
Anyway, maybe someday somebody will look at our forests and ask why we aren’t using them for our needs!