The Private Forest Accord is the result of a landmark negotiation between conservation groups and the timber industry that in 2021 settled decades of conflict over logging privately owned forests in Oregon. Landowners agreed to follow new rules for fish and other aquatic species — like leaving buffers between streams and logging operations — in exchange for a degree of stability and protection from environmental lawsuits.
But current proposals from the governor’s office and state agencies would dramatically cut funding to the accord’s programs, putting the agreement at risk of becoming ineffective, or disappearing entirely.
The Private Forest Accord’s programs need $36 million each biennium — because the state runs on two-year budgets — to help make waterways healthier for fish, give small forestland owners funding to improve culverts and roads to benefit streams, and fund research to study whether the accord’s new rules and grants are working. That funding commitment is outlined in state law and agreements between the state, timber representatives and environmental groups.
But Gov. Tina Kotek’s budget, delivered in December, only proposes $14 million. And budgets from the Oregon Department of Forestry and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, which manage the accord’s programs, also fall far short of what’s needed to fulfill the state’s commitments.
Conservationists and timber industry representatives warn that this shortfall could stall the accord’s final step: getting a habitat conservation plan approved by the federal government. If that doesn’t happen by the end of 2027, then all the accord’s policies, programs and agreements go away, due to a deadline in state law.
The Ways and Means Natural Resources subcommittee had a hearing on the forestry department’s budget on Wednesday. That agency runs two programs as part of the accord — the small forestland owner grants program and the research program — which together require $16 million every biennium. Its proposed budget would provide $10 million.
“With so much uncertainty at the federal level, fully funding these programs sends a clear signal that the state is invested in this process,” Stacey Detwiler, Oregon policy manager at the Wild Salmon Center, said during the hearing. “Now is the time for Oregon to build on the work of the past four years to reshape laws around timber harvest on private lands to secure this win for the long haul.”
Lawmakers are still early in financial negotiations during this year’s long legislative session, so these proposals are likely to change over the coming months. During Wednesday’s budget discussion, most public testimony — including nearly 200 written submissions — called for fully funding the accord’s programs.
The Private Forest Accord’s administrative rules for protecting streams and steep slopes, which can release sediment into waterways during logging, went into effect in 2024. Its grant and research programs are also underway.
But the accord still needs federal approval, since these rules and programs could impact federally endangered and threatened species, like native salmon and trout. The Oregon Department of Forestry submitted that plan to federal wildlife officials over the summer, and awaits final approval.
Seth Barnes, forest policy director with the Oregon Forest Industries Council, a trade association representing forestland owners and wood manufacturers, said cementing that final step “will be a key milestone, and is critical to the success of the Private Forest Accord.”
“It will ensure sustained protections across millions of acres of private forest land,” Barnes said. “And it will help create a stable environment for businesses to invest in green technologies in the forest industry here in Oregon.”
Barnes and Detwiler co-chair the accord’s research program, which didn’t get any funding under proposals from Kotek’s office or the forestry department.
Many federal processes, particularly environmental ones, are in limbo amid nationwide budget and labor cuts pushed by the Trump administration. Detwiler and Barnes said they remain hopeful that the accord will still get the federal approval it needs. They note that fully funding the Private Forest Accord is at least one thing within the state’s control.
“As of today, federal environmental laws still exists,” Detwiler told OPB. “All the parties are still at the table. There’s still a pathway to this 2027 deadline.”
