Posted Nov 06, 2019
Jennifer Beathe (Beathe is a professional forester with Starker Forests in Corvallis.)
I was pleased to read the third installment of The Oregonian/OregonLive’s Failing Forestry series (“Failing Forestry: The $1 billion lawsuit that could decide the fate of Oregon’s state forests,” Oct. 27) that highlighted the significant value the Oregon timber industry provides to rural Oregonians in terms of high-paying, family-wage jobs.

Whether they are mill jobs, trucking jobs, or forestry jobs – the timber industry pays higher than the state average wage and employs more than 60,000 Oregonians, mostly in rural counties. These are critical jobs for those economies.
Fortunately, timber provides more than just economics for Oregonians, in spite of the false dichotomy the article seemed to express that Oregonians must somehow choose between monetary value of timber harvest and environmental values of clean water, wildlife habitat and recreation opportunities. That is simply not true - forest management in Oregon can, and does, produce both. That’s what the Oregon Forest Practice Act was designed to do.
As a forester for Starker Forests over the past 20 years, I have implemented dozens of fish habitat improvement projects on forest streams. I have worked side-by-side with state and federal hydrologists and biologists, and watershed councils on cooperative projects to enhance wildlife habitat on forestlands, while producing a sustainable supply of renewable materials. We also implement our own projects because the Starker family believes forest stewardship includes this work. Industrial forestry and protecting the environment are not mutually exclusive.
Environmental protection laws for forestry in Oregon are creating intended outcomes. We replant 40 million tree seedlings every year in Oregon. My elementary school age kids know we plant four trees for every one harvested – a fact they eagerly share with friends. We’re maintaining more forestland than any other state on the West Coast. It would be a tragedy for those forests to go up in flames from lack of management or be converted to another use, such as rural residential development, which would fragment habitat and negatively impact wildlife species.
While I am passionate about active forest management and locally producing wood products for society, it’s not just my job – I spend my free time recreating in the woods. Family weekends mean backpacking, hunting, hiking or running, on both private and public forestlands in Oregon.
Oregonians love to recreate in our managed forests. Starker Forests has offered free recreation for decades. We issue thousands of free permits annually to neighbors hunting, hiking, biking and horseback riding in our forests. Hunters rely on our clearcuts and young forests because they know animals are found where there is food to eat. Recent clearcuts growing into young forests offer critical habitat for nesting songbirds and pollinators.
As an Oregonian, I am happy to live in a state that encourages forestland stewardship. I am proud that our streams produce clean water, that the projects we’ve implemented on our private forestlands improve fish habitat and that thousands of Oregonians can experience free recreation to enhance healthy living. It is not an either-or question.