PORTLAND, Ore, — The Bureau of Land Management forestry program in western Oregon harvested over 272 million board feet of timber during fiscal year 2022, generating $68 million. Roughly half of that money will be shared with local communities to support schools, emergency response, and other municipal services.
“We take our commitment to our communities and the resiliency of our forests seriously,” said BLM Oregon/Washington State Director Barry Bushue. “Our timber program helps us achieve both.”
The federal government’s fiscal year 2022 runs from October 1, 2021, through September 30, 2022.
Timber harvests in BLM forests provide western Oregon communities with employment, economic stability, and recreational opportunities. The timber harvested from BLM lands supported 3,500 family-wage jobs and provided enough lumber to construct roughly 17,000 single family homes. Timber is a critical, renewable building material that stores carbon for the life of the product and requires far less fossil fuel to produce than concrete or steel.
If you would like to speak to a BLM forester about these accomplishments, please contact Sarah Bennett at [email protected].
The BLM manages 2.4 million acres of forests and woodlands across western Oregon, mostly under the Oregon and California Railroad Revested Lands Sustained Yield Management Act of 1937 (O&C Act). These O&C lands span 18 western Oregon counties. The Act charges the BLM with managing the land “for permanent forest production” and to share the revenue with those 18 counties.
The BLM’s multiple-use mission ensures opportunities for commercial, conservation, and recreational activities on public lands. Commercial timber sales are an important tool used to accomplish BLM’s land management objectives. These objectives include production of a sustained yield of timber, fish and wildlife enhancement, dry forest restoration, wildfire hazard reduction, road maintenance and improvement, and protection of clean water. In fact, commercial harvest can be the most efficient way to accomplish the agency’s objectives. That’s because the timber industry provides the people, equipment, and financial resources to treat vegetation, and to remove materials that need to come off fire-prone public lands.
In addition to the timber actively harvested on BLM lands last year, the BLM offered nearly 280 million board feet of timber for sale. Local timber companies will harvest this timber over the next four years.