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Forestland
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| Forestland and the Common School Lands |
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Approximately 120,000 acres of forestland is part of the common school lands overseen by the State Land Board and Department of State Lands (DSL). About 15 percent of this acreage is classified as special stewardship land. The Elliott State Forest near Reedsport comprises most of the Land Board's forestland - 91 percent (84,562 acres) of the 93,000-acre forest. DSL’s Asset Management Plan identifies most forestland as a core real estate asset of the Common School Fund.
The Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) manages forestland for the State Land Board through an interagency agreement with DSL. Revenue generated from timber sales and other uses goes to the Common School Fund, which helps fund public education throughout Oregon.
Over the past decade, the highest annual revenue from timber harvests was in 2000 ($24.4 million), and the lowest was in 2003 (about $8.5 million). The average annual revenue from forestland is $14.7 million. Administrative costs paid to the ODF stay relatively static, and average around $4.5 million annually.
Each year, ODF and DSL jointly approve operations plans for each state forest containing common school land. The plans include managing timber harvests, roads, vegetation, species protection, replanting, wildlife surveying and recreation. All forest plans are available on the ODF Web site. |
| Restoration Projects on the Elliott State Forest |
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Projects to enhance waterway habitat on the forest have been ongoing for many years, in addition to reforestation efforts and threatened and endangered species surveying. ODF’s Coos District works in cooperation with local partners to improve fish and wildlife habitat in the forest.
In the summer of 2010, district staff partnered with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW), Coos Watershed Association (CWA), the Partnership for the Umpqua Rivers (PUR) and the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) to complete two projects in the Coos Basin and three in the Umpqua Basin.
Marlow Creek
A $91,000 OWEB grant helped support a project to improve spawning and rearing habitat for coho salmon in the upper reaches of Marlow Creek. Twenty three large-wood structures were added to the upper 1.5-mile stretch of the creek, encompassing 41 whole trees and 36 sixty-foot-long logs. The work in 2010 complements large wood placement in the lower 2.5 mile reach of Marlow Creek conducted during the summer of 2009. An additional $84,500 in in-kind materials (large conifer trees and logs provided by ODF) and technical assistance from ODFW helped support the project.
Elk Creek
A second project used $78,000 in grant funding from OWEB, $70,500 in in-kind materials (trees and logs from a blow-down patch on the Elliott) and technical assistance from ODFW to improve stream habitat for coho salmon. The trees and logs were trucked into the upper reaches of Elk Creek and placed with a cable log puller. A total of 31 structures were placed, using 44 trees and 55 logs, in approximately 1 mile of Elk Creek. This completes a multi-phase, multi-year restoration effort over nearly 6 miles of coho-inhabited portions of the creek.
Charlotte, Dean and Luder Creeks
Also during the summer of 2010, the Coos District teamed up with ODFW, Partnership for the Umpqua Rivers (PUR) and OWEB to use $209,000 in grant funding, $93,000 in in-kind materials (large conifer trees provided by ODF) and technical assistance from ODFW to improve stream complexity for Coho salmon. A total of 27 large-wood structures were added, consisting of 115 whole trees and 38 forty-foot-long logs over 2.5 miles of the three creeks. All structures were placed in remote portions of the streams, using a Chinook helicopter to fly large trees from ridge-top locations to the streams.
2011 Culvert and Stream Habitat Projects
 Through the continued partnership among ODF, ODFW, OWEB and the CWA, one culvert removal and three culvert replacement projects were completed in the Coos Basin in 2011. On the West Fork Millicoma
River, one culvert was permanently removed for fish passage, and a short segment of road abandoned. The three replaced culverts were designed to facilitate adult and juvenile salmonid passage, improving access to approximately 1.6 miles of streams in a tributary to the West Fork Millicoma River, a tributary to Elk Creek, and on Piledriver Creek.
The culvert projects were supported by $69,000 in grant funding from OWEB, $1,000 in in-kind funding from ODFW, and $45,000 in cash and in-kind contributions from ODF.
During the summer of 2011, the Coos District partnered with Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW), Coos Watershed Association (CWA) and the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) on one culvert removal and three culvert replacement projects in the Coos Basin. One culvert on a tributary to the West Fork Millicoma River was removed and left out for fish passage and a short segment of road abandoned. The three culverts replaced were designed to facilitate adult and
juvenile salmonid passage on a tributary to the West Fork Millicoma River, a tributary to Elk Creek and Piledriver Creek.
Also during 2011, three timber sales on the Elliott provided 72 logs for 17 structures in Deer and Cougar Creeks and their tributaries for stream habitat enhancement.
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| Additional Links |
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More detail about management of Common School forestland:
Common Schools Forest Lands Annual Report PDF
Common School Forestlands Backgrounder PDF
Elliott State Forest Planning
Elliott State Forest Fact Sheet PDF
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