Latest news with #OregonDepartmentofForestry
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Gov. Tina Kotek now supports withholding $1B of Oregon's ‘kicker' for wildfire costs
Gov. Tina Kotek (left), State Fire Marshal Mariana Ruiz-Temple (center), and Oregon Department of Forestry Deputy Director Kyle Williams (right) at a wildfire briefing May 7, 2025. Kotek said the season would likely be more aggressive than in years past. (Alex Baumhardt/Oregon Capital Chronicle) Oregon lawmakers looking for a new source of money to fight wildfires this year have come up with few slam-dunk answers. Now one option that is often considered politically impossible appears to be gaining traction. Gov. Tina Kotek on Monday became the latest official to signal support for withholding part of next year's expected personal income 'kicker' tax refund in order to cover wildfire costs. 'We need to find some resources to do that,' Kotek told reporters in a press briefing. 'I do think this conversation — on a one-time basis — of supporting rural Oregon by potentially using a portion of the kicker tax break would be a beneficial approach.' Specifically, Kotek mentioned withholding $1 billion of next year's expected $1.64 billion tax refund in order to fund wildfire suppression and prevention. 'That would be very helpful for the state,' Kotek said, arguing that the money would represent a transfer of wealth from urban to rural Oregon — a potential selling point for Republicans. 'Most of the folks who are going to be paying that are folks who do not live in fire-prone areas.' The comments appear to be the first time Kotek has publicly supported clawing back a portion of the kicker during her tenure as governor. In 2023, as taxpayers were getting ready to receive a massive $5.6 billion refund, she declined to entertain the idea of withholding all or part of the money to help fund her budget priorities, saying the tax relief was 'really important to Oregonians.' The kicker is triggered when personal income taxes in a two-year budget cycle come in at least 2% higher than lawmakers expected when setting the budget. In such cases, all the excess money is given back to taxpayers in the form of tax credits. The rebate is codified in Oregon's Constitution. But lawmakers have an option if they can agree on a better use for the kicker money. With a two-thirds supermajority vote in each chamber, they can opt to suspend the refund. That's happened once since the policy was enacted in the late '70s. Finding such strong majorities is difficult in today's Legislature, where the kicker can be a political third rail. Even if Democrats agree on such a move, a vote to suspend the kicker would require two Republican votes in the 30-member Senate and four in the 60-member House. The GOP has stridently opposed past calls to suspend the rebate, and has repeatedly accused Democrats this year of seeking to gouge Oregonians with a transportation proposal that could raise taxes by $1 billion a year. The Legislature has made it a priority this session to find money for increasingly expensive wildfire seasons. The need became clear last year, when the Legislature held a December special session to pay its wildfire bills. But no ideal options have emerged. Lawmakers have considered slapping 5 cents onto the state's 10-cent bottle deposit, pulling money from lottery revenues, or redirecting an obscure tax on insurance companies. In her own recommended budget, Kotek urged lawmakers to withhold payments into the state's reserve fund in order to pay for wildfires. Then there's the kicker idea, pushed most energetically by Sen. Jeff Golden, D-Ashland. For years, Golden has argued the state could solve much of its fire funding problem by suspending the entire kicker and putting it in an interest-bearing fund. If that fund earned 5% interest every year, Golden says the $1.64 billion kicker would earn the state $164 million each budget cycle for wildfire spending – a little more than half of the projected need. 'We can jump on this one-time opportunity and then find an additional $150 million dollars every biennium to fully fund wildfire,' Golden said on the Senate floor last week. 'Or we do nothing and have to find $300 million, twice as much, from who knows where.' Golden, who represents a district in Southern Oregon that is no stranger to wildfire, conceded last week that the chance of his proposal was uncertain. On Monday, he said the state would be far better off suspending the entire kicker, rather than just a portion as Kotek suggested. But he added: 'We should do what we have to do to get to 20 [votes] on this side and 40 in the House.' This article was originally published by Oregon Public Broadcasting.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
‘Fire season is here,' Gov. Kotek declares May Wildfire Awareness Month, state prepares
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways Gov. Tina Kotek (left), State Fire Marshal Mariana Ruiz-Temple (center), and Oregon Department of Forestry Deputy Director Kyle Williams (right) at a wildfire briefing May 7, 2025. Kotek said the season would likely be more aggressive than in years past. (Alex Baumhardt/Oregon Capital Chronicle). State fire experts are expecting an even more aggressive and difficult wildfire season this summer but said they are prepared and positioning themselves to respond quickly in light of last year's staggering burns. Despite a considerable amount of winter moisture and strong snow pack at higher elevations, Oregon's increasingly hotter, drier summers will quickly dry out vegetation and create dangerous conditions, Gov. Tina Kotek said at a news conference Wednesday. 'Fire season is here,' she said. 'By July and August we will experience above average severity that will culminate in September and October as we reach peak fire danger.' The conference was held at the Oregon Department of Forestry's fire cache in Salem, where the agency keeps millions of dollars worth of equipment and supplies for its logistics and tactical teams and for firefighters around the state. Kotek also signed a proclamation declaring May 'Wildfire Awareness Month.' 'Every Oregonian has a role in preventing wildfires,' she said. 'Drown the campfire, stir the ashes and drown it again until it's cool to the touch. Every Oregonian needs to know the fire danger level where they live. And please follow the rules and the notices when you get them.' Kotek and the forestry department's deputy director, Kyle Williams, said that after last year's record-breaking fires — nearly 2,000 of them that burned nearly 2 million acres — they've learned to declare emergencies early so agencies can collaborate and coordinate, to boost aerial surveying for wildfires to get to them before they grow and to establish more spots around the state where helicopters, planes and crews can land and be deployed quickly. Oregon's Department of Forestry is hoping to fill 400 seasonal firefighting jobs to compliment about 300 permanent staff, Williams said. Oregon State Fire Marshal Mariana Ruiz-Temple said her agency will bring on 1,500 structural firefighters for the season. 'Other than that, we're going to rely on our partners again,' Williams said. Those partners include the more than 11,000 firefighters from more than 300 fire departments around the state who make up the Oregon Fire Mutual Aid System, firefighting companies that have hand crews and equipment the state can contract and federal wildland firefighters. David Allen, fire cache manager at the Oregon Department of Forestry, shows shelves of Nomex flame resistant firefighting clothes May 7, 2025 at the state's cache, which contains millions of dollars of firefighting equipment. (Alex Baumhardt/Oregon Capital Chronicle) Kotek said it was essential that the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management also scale up a robust wildfire fighting force for federal lands — which make up about half the state — this summer. Williams said partners at those federal agencies are 'anticipating being able to hire all of those folks. What might not show up on the fire line is still yet to be determined, but we're going to be as prepared as possible and then engage other states, compact states and provinces.' Oregon has a compact with Northwest states and Canada to share firefighters and firefighting resources as needed. Kotek said that strain between the Canadian and U.S. governments over tariffs and President Donald Trump's threats to Canada's sovereignty are so far not dampening the relationship between northwest states and provinces over firefighting. 'I haven't heard anything different. It's business as usual. We're all going to support each other, and hopefully we don't have any kind of restrictions at the border,' Kotek said. She is also asking the state Legislature to come up with a $150 million fund that can be tapped to cover extraordinary expenses or to front payments to contractors that will then be reimbursed by the federal government. Kotek had to call a special session of the Legislature in December to appropriate more than $200 million to cover the state's outstanding fire costs. The state spent more than $350 million fighting wildfires in 2024. While half is expected to be reimbursed by federal agencies, state agencies have to pay contractors for their work upfront while they wait, sometimes for a year or more, for federal reimbursement. Kotek said she has no reason to believe federal agencies will renege on obligations to reimburse the state and to help in a wildfire emergency in Oregon, especially on federal land. 'The federal government needs to provide the resources to make sure when it's (fire) on federal land, they are ready,' she said. 'Because when we're on state land, we are ready.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Drought conditions, pests remain threats to Oregon's forests
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Last year's contributed to the trend of harsh conditions for Oregon forests. About 1.9 million acres of land were impacted by wildfire from July 2024 to October 2024, the Oregon Department of Forestry reported last fall. But the agency's shows drought conditions and 'opportunistic insects' pose the biggest threat to forests, with wildfires adding to that threat. Investigation finds 'bulk quantities' of Oregon-grown cannabis in New York 'A lot of what's feeding into the drought stress of trees that make them prey to insects is feeding into having drier landscapes, maybe some landscapes where fire has been suppressed and fuels have built up, and so having those dry conditions — and a lot of fuels in particular — can be a pretty dramatic effect on the landscape,' ODF Forest Entomologist Christine Buhl told KOIN 6. The department claims its annual survey is the longest-running survey of its kind in the U.S., although it was paused in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The effort calls on trained observers to fly over Oregon's 28 million acres of forested land to assess its health and track the damage by using mapping technology. According to Buhl, the new data has identified certain parts of the state — including portions of the southwest and northeast regions, and east of the Cascades through Central Oregon — as those that are especially dry. Those trees are also especially vulnerable to pests as they lack the moisture needed to defend themselves against insects like native bark beetles. Stressed trees are additionally more susceptible to diseases such as Swiss needle cast, which has been prevalent in the Douglas-fir forests near the coast since the 1990s. While the aerial survey is able to properly assess some of these diseases, Buhl said that the report likely underrepresents the root diseases that are more easily detected on the ground. The entomologist noted that pathologists on both the state and federal level conduct this work, but these roles aren't so common. Man takes stroller with child, gets punched by mom before fleeing, police say 'I will say that, with recent federal cuts, we are losing some of those positions — so further reducing our ability to detect it on the landscape,' she added. Buhl noted that people aren't able to effectively prevent issues like root disease, but landowners could prevent other damages by assessing the density of trees and being 'judicious' with the type of tree that is planted. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill repealing Wildfire Hazard Map passes Oregon Senate
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – The Oregon Senate unanimously passed a bill on Tuesday in an effort to repeal the state's controversial Wildfire Hazard Map. The Wildfire Hazard Map was created in 2021 under the bipartisan Senate Bill 762, which directed the Oregon Department of Forestry to map out fire-prone areas in the state. Under SB 762, homeowners living in areas that are at a high wildfire risk face stricter building codes and must reduce vegetation on their properties. A provision in 2023 disallows insurers to cancel or decline to renew homeowners' insurance policies or increase premiums. Despite this, the backlash against the Wildfire Hazard Map has persisted. Tribes battle PGE's plan to seize Willamette Falls land Now, with SB 83, lawmakers are aiming to eliminate the map, and the property maintenance rules, with the Democratic Majority Office noting the maps did not represent various individual property conditions 'and would have had consequences for land and building regulations.' 'We need Senate Bill 83 to heal the huge divide among Oregonians, triggered by a wildfire map that made no logical sense to thousands of affected people,' said Senate Natural Resources and Wildfire Committee Chair Jeff Golden (D –Ashland). 'That divide was squarely in the way of building the broad-based collaboration we need to meet the wildfire crisis, which is far beyond what government on its own can solve.' While repealing the map, the bill also directs state agencies to create fire regulations that property owners can choose to follow, or municipal governments can adopt regulations to enforce at the local level. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now By voting to repeal the map, the committee also nullified requirements for sellers to disclose a property's classification on the map and that property owners in hazard zones follow certain construction rules for accessory dwelling units and replacement buildings. Under SB 83, two members will be added to Oregon's Wildfire Programs Advisory Council, including one member from the firefighting field, and a second from the insurance industry. Additionally, the bill requires the Department of Environmental Quality to issue reports on community smoke monitoring and response and directs the Public Utility Commission to report on efforts to reduce wildfire risk from utility infrastructure. 'Today, we celebrate a hard-fought victory for rural Oregon,' said Senate Republican Leader Daniel Bonham (R-The Dalles). 'Senate Bill 83 repeals the most flawed and overreaching aspects of Senate Bill 762 from 2021, including the State Wildfire Hazard Map, while preserving the programs that genuinely protect property owners and reduce wildfire risks.' Washington limits armed forces from entering the state without governor's OK 'I'm delighted to see Senate Bill 83 pass the Senate,' added Sen. Noah Robinson (R-Cave Junction). 'Many of my constituents and thousands of Oregonians have made it clear: they want the ability to protect their homes without being burdened by unfair regulations. Today's vote is a crucial step toward undoing the damage caused by this flawed policy and returning control to landowners.' 'This has been years in the making. With today's overwhelming bipartisan support for Senate Bill 83, we are one step closer to undoing the harm caused by Senate Bill 762's wildfire map,' said Sen. David Brock Smith (R-Port Orford). 'I want to thank the thousands of residents who raised their voices to make this possible, as well as my colleagues for their support. I look forward to seeing Senate Bill 83 move swiftly through the House and be signed by Governor Kotek, bringing much-needed relief to our communities.' SB 83 passed the Senate unanimously and heads to the House of Representatives for consideration. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Public comments sought for state forest management activities
The Oregon Department of Forestry is inviting public comment on planned projects, timber sales, and other management activities in state-owned forests. Through 5 p.m. June 3, Oregonians can weigh in on draft Annual Operations Plans for state forests on the Astoria, Forest Grove, Klamath Falls, Tillamook, West Oregon, and Western Lane Districts. These plans lay out on-the-ground activities expected to take place in the coming fiscal year. State forests by law must provide economic, environmental, and social benefits to Oregonians. To achieve the legal mandate, these lands are managed to create healthy productive forests, high-quality habitat for native fish and wildlife, clean water, benefits and revenues to rural communities and timber related economies, as well as recreation and educational opportunities. Overall management policies and management goals are established in long-range Forest Management Plans and Implementation Plans. Annual Operations Plans describe activities to achieve the policies and goals laid out in the longer-range plans. ODF is seeking input on the draft Annual Operations Plans summary documents, which can be viewed on the State Forests' new Annual Operations Plans website. Common topics in the Annual Operations Plan include: * Timber harvest operations * Recreation improvement and maintenance projects * Forest road construction, maintenance, and improvements * Reforestation/replanting and young stand management activities * Habitat improvement for native species * Invasive species management The most useful input will speak to these specific activities and whether they are consistent with longer-range plans, offer suggestions to improve efficiency or effectiveness, correct errors, provide additional information, and are solution oriented. Activities that affect fish and wildlife habitat are reviewed by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, while operations that may affect threatened and endangered fish and wildlife habitat are shared with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This year the department worked to improve communications by adding clarity in the documents provided, improved the website, and issued notification to private landowners that share a property line with a proposed operation. ODF is offering several avenues to comment on Annual Operations Plans: * Online comments can be submitted through ODF's comments page. * Comments can be emailed to: * Comments can also be mailed to ODF Public Affairs, 2600 State St., Salem, OR 97310.
