Homecoming For A Former Governor

By Scott R. Cooper, Crook County Judge

As Ex-Gov, Kitzhaber Gets It On Forest Management

I never agreed much with John Kitzhaber when he was governor of Oregon. I never thought the ex-governor “got it” between 1993 and 2000 as Prineville and other rural communities staggered beneath the implosion of our timber-based economy. I always thought the governor had a remarkable affinity for fish and trees to the exclusion of a concern for the people who relied on the fish and trees to make a living.

These days, John Kitzhaber is a distant memory. At the end of his term, he pronounced Oregon “ungovernable” and fled to a Colorado where he pursues his abiding passion for promoting a healthcare agenda.

So I reacted with quite a bit of surprise recently when someone sent me a copy of an address the former governor gave in April to the Society of American Foresters. The surprise wasn’t that he was giving speeches. It was that I actually agreed with a portion of his speech.

Here’s an excerpt of what John Kitzhaber is saying these days:

“The ongoing conflict surrounding natural resource management should concern us for a number of reasons. First, because of the values which are at stake: on the one hand, the majestic beauty and spirituality of our natural lands and the powerful landscapes which help define us as Westerners – and on the other hand, the jobs and important economic activity which depend on these same natural resources.

“We should also be concerned at a deeper and more fundamental level as well because this conflict and the acrimony which surrounds it are disrupting the important relationships which underlie strong, vital communities. People are labeled in this debate --labeled as environmentalists or ranchers or timber operators – labels which define only our differences and none of our common goals and aspirations.

“I believe that thriving, prospering communities depend on the ability and the willingness of the members of the community to recognize the fundamental interdependence between their economic, environmental and community needs; to see these needs as integrated parts of a larger whole, rather than as separate, competing entities.”

Kitzhaber goes on to talk about how current management policies have led to forests overstocked with stands of pine and fir, increased risk of catastrophic wildfire and unhealthy watersheds. He deplores the loss of rural economies and rural jobs in our state. Most of all, he expresses dismay over the ever-more acrimonious tone which polarizes different factions in the natural resources debate. Increasingly, the various parties involved have stopped taking time to listen to one another and resorted to the Courts to sort out their differences. That decision has led to a standoff that Kitzhaber says has resulted in “a management paradigm in which forest practices are shaped more by stakeholder politics than by sound science and balanced public policy.”

I would say that a few years away from Oregon have done our former governor some good. He appears to have regained the perspective which Oregonians on our side of the Cascades have been advocating since the debate first began over how best to manage our resources.

I have always been offended at the suggestion that residents of the eastern two-thirds of Oregon somehow lack an environmental ethic and simply want to be left alone to do what they want to the land. That doesn’t square with the values with which I was raised nor does it square with the attitudes that I’ve heard espoused by long-time residents and newcomers alike.

What I have always understood Oregonians on the dry side to want is a national and state policy on resource management that honors the need to balance resource capacity with the ability to make a living off the land. The key word in that sentence is “balance.” I don’t think any of us who are native to this region don’t travel through the forests with a sense of awe and privilege at the beautiful landscape that surrounds us. I don’t think any of us want to see that landscape destroyed. But all of us recognize that land isn’t static: to be productive, it must be managed. Good management includes the removal of smaller trees to make room for larger one. Good management can include a sensible grazing plan which enhances, not hurts, forage condition. Good management requires the ability to access the interior of the forest by building (gasp!) some roads! Good management even means the conservation of species by managing wildlife numbers so that the entire population doesn’t risk dying of disease and starvation.

I’m thrilled that Governor Kitzhaber is starting to see it our way. I hope that his newly enlighted views represent a “chink” in the armor of opposition to common sense and a chance to re-engage long time foes in a new dialogue about common sense approaches to resource health.

Apparently, you can take Oregonians out of Oregon, but you’ll never take the Oregon out of a true Oregonian. Welcome back to the ranks of the rest of us, John Kitzhaber.