GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) -- Oregon officials have put off a hard decision on how they will protect threatened fish and wildlife in a state forest that helps to fund schools.
The State Land Board voted Tuesday to keep trying to satisfy federal biologists' concerns that increasing logging on the Elliott State Forest near Reedsport could harm marbled murrelets and coho salmon.
But if they don't succeed by the end of 2011, they will drop the existing method of protecting habitat, known as a habitat conservation plan, and go with a different system favored by the timber industry, known as a take avoidance strategy.
Meanwhile, the board will appoint an independent board of scientists to review plans plans developed by the Oregon Department of Forestry to increase logging on the forest about 60 percent. The review panel will be appointed in collaboration with the NOAA Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The board -- made up of the governor, state treasurer and secretary of state -- has been trying to squeeze more money and jobs out of the Elliott, which generates about $10 million to $15 million a year for the state school budget of about $6 billion.
"I have my doubts the state is really willing to do what is required" to protect fish and wildlife, said Mary Scurlock of Pacific Rivers Council, a conservation group.
"The children would be better served by solid conservation on state lands than they would by trying to eke out a few more board feet," she added. "It's not going to bail schools or counties out to do this. But it is going to cause considerable harm to watersheds."
Bob Ragon, executive director of the Douglas Timber Operators, said he thought the Oregon Department of Forestry plan to increase logging from about 25 million board feet a year to about 40 million was a good one that would create more timber jobs without harming fish and wildlife.
"Even though they couldn't get NOAA Fisheries or Fish and Wildlife to sign off on it, I think (members of the board) intend to implement the plan (the Oregon Department of Forestry) spent 10 years putting together," Ragon said.
The Elliott State Forest is the board's biggest asset, and the only Oregon state forest that generates money for the Common School Fund, which stands at about $930 million.
