Oregon and California Railroad Revested Lands#The O.26C Act

As part of the U.S. government's desire to foster settlement and economic development in the western states, in July 1866, Congress passed the Oregon and California Railroad Act. This act made {{convert|3700000|acres}} of land available for any company that built a railroad from Portland to San Francisco. The land was to be distributed by the state of Oregon in {{convert|12800|acres|adj=on}} land grants for each mile of track completed.{{USStatute|39|242|14|239|1866|07|25}}{{cite web

|url=http://www.blm.gov/or/files/OC_History.pdf

|title=O&C Sustained Yield Act: the Law, the Land, the Legacy

|publisher=Bureau of Land Management

|access-date=March 6, 2012

|archive-date=October 24, 2012

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024061002/http://www.blm.gov/or/files/OC_History.pdf

|url-status=live

}} Two companies, both of which named themselves the Oregon Central Railroad, began a competition to build the railroad, one on the west side of the Willamette River and one on the east side. The two lines would eventually merge and reorganize as the Oregon and California Railroad. In 1869, Congress changed how the grants were to be distributed, requiring the railroads to sell land along the line to settlers in {{convert|160|acres|adj=on}} parcels at $2.50 per acre. The land was distributed in a checkerboard pattern, with sections laid out for {{convert|20|mi|km}} on either side of the rail corridor with the government retaining the alternate sections for future growth.{{cite web

|url=http://www.oregonwild.org/oregon_forests/old_growth_protection/westside-forests/western-oregon-s-patchwork-public-lands/O-C%20History.pdf

|title=History of Oregon BLM

|publisher=OregonWild.org

|access-date=March 6, 2012

}}{{Dead link|date=November 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

File:Logging, 1910 from Centennial History of Oregon.png

By 1872, the railroad had extended from Portland to Roseburg. Along the way, it created growth in Willamette Valley towns such as Canby, Aurora, and Harrisburg, which emerged as freight and passenger stations, and provided a commercial lifeline to the part of the river valley above Harrisburg where steamships were rarely able to travel. As the railroad made its way into the Umpqua Valley, new townsites such as Drain, Oakland, and Yoncalla were laid out.

{{main|Oregon land fraud scandal}}

Perhaps the most significant aspect of the railroad was that it provided access to Oregon's vast forests for large-scale logging operations. But despite the large number of grants, it was difficult to sell to actual settlers because much of the land was not only heavily forested (chiefly in Douglas-fir and Western Hemlock), but rugged and remote; moreover, the railroads soon realized that the land was much more valuable if sold in larger plots to developers and timber companies.{{cite journal

|url=http://www.fseee.org/forest-magazine/200229

|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130414192916/http://www.fseee.org/forest-magazine/200229

|url-status=dead

|archive-date=April 14, 2013

|title=In the Red

|last=Tallmadge

|first=Alice

|journal=Forest Magazine

|date=Summer 2007

|access-date=March 6, 2012

}} As a result, some individuals posed as settlers to purchase the land at the $2.50 per acre rate and then promptly deeded them back to the railroad, which amassed the smaller plots into larger ones and resold them at a higher price to timber interests.

A scheme to circumvent the settler grants altogether soon emerged. A railroad official hired a surveyor and logger named Stephen A. Douglas Puter to round up people from Portland saloons, and then take them to the land office where they would register for an O&C parcel as a settler, and then promptly resell to the railroad for bundling with other plots and resale to the highest bidder, typically as much as $40 an acre.{{cite book

|title=Saving Oregon's Golden Goose: Political Drama on the O&C Lands

|last=Miller

|first=Joseph S

|publisher=Inkwater Press

|year=2006

|location=Portland, Oregon

|isbn=978-1-59299-212-6

|id=partially read into the Congressional Record by Gordon Smith, 2007-02-12; see [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getpage.cgi?position=all&page=S1837&dbname=2007_record 110th Cong., vol. 153, no. 1, 2007, pp. S1837-S1838]

}} In 1904, an investigation by The Oregonian uncovered the scandal, by which time it had grown to such a magnitude that the paper reported that more than 75% of the land sales had violated federal law.{{Cite web

|url=http://www.co.jackson.or.us/files/oc_video_transcript.pdf

|title=History of the O&C or Saving Oregon's Future (transcript of video)

|access-date=March 6, 2012

|publisher=Jackson County, Oregon

}}{{Dead link|date=August 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Between 1904 and 1910, nearly a hundred people were indicted in connection with the fraud, including U.S. Senator John H. Mitchell, U.S. Representatives John N. Williamson and Binger Hermann, and U.S. Attorney

John Hicklin Hall.{{Oregon Encyclopedia|oregon_land_fraud_trials_1904_1910_/|Oregon Land Fraud Trials (1904-1910)|author=Tatom, Oliver}}{{cite web| title =Land Fraud Trial of Senator John Mitchell| work =Oregon History Project| url =http://oregonhistoryproject.org/articles/historical-records/land-fraud-trial-of-senator-john-mitchell/| access-date =June 17, 2016| publisher =Oregon Historical Society| archive-date =August 27, 2016| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20160827140223/https://oregonhistoryproject.org/articles/historical-records/land-fraud-trial-of-senator-john-mitchell/| url-status =live}}{{cite web| title =Shadows in Public Life| work =Oregon History Project| url =http://www.ohs.org/education/oregonhistory/historical_records/dspDocument.cfm?doc_ID=4B231BEE-019C-CC9F-70ABA3166C5B3091| access-date =March 6, 2012| publisher =Oregon Historical Society| archive-date =February 7, 2012| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20120207011247/http://www.ohs.org/education/oregonhistory/historical_records/dspDocument.cfm?doc_ID=4B231BEE-019C-CC9F-70ABA3166C5B3091| url-status =live}}

File:BLM Oregon forestry.jpg now manages timber on more than 2 million acres of land in Oregon that formerly belonged to the O&C Railroad]]As the land fraud trials reached their conclusion, attention also turned to the Southern Pacific Railroad (which had acquired the O&C in 1887). Not only had the company violated the terms of the grant agreement, but in 1903, declared it was terminating land sales—in violation of the grant agreement—either as a hedge against future increases in land values or to retain the timber profits for itself.{{cite web| title =Oregon and California Railroad| work =Oregon History Project| url =http://oregonhistoryproject.org/articles/historical-records/oregon-and-california-railroad/| access-date =June 17, 2016| archive-date =August 27, 2016| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20160827120918/https://oregonhistoryproject.org/articles/historical-records/oregon-and-california-railroad/| url-status =live}}

A series of lawsuits between the State of Oregon, the United States government, and the railroads ensued. Another lawsuit was brought by Portland attorney and future U.S. Representative Walter Lafferty on behalf of 18 western Oregon counties, which sued to claim revenue from timber sales on the O&C lands.{{cite news|title=Land Battle Climax of Lafferty Career|work=The Oregonian|date=1964-01-16|page=11}} The cases worked their way up to the United States Supreme Court, which ruled in 1915 in Oregon & California R. Co. v. United States that despite the violation of grant terms, the railroad had been built and the railroad company should be compensated. In 1916, Congress passed the Chamberlain–Ferris Act, which revested the remaining 2,800,000 acres of land to the United States government, and compensated the railroad at $2.50 per acre from an account, the Oregon and California land grant fund, funded by timber sales from the land. Oregon counties affected by the revestiture of land were also to be compensated from the fund.{{caselaw source

|case=Oregon & California R. Co. v. United States, 238 U.S. 393 (1915)

|findlaw=http://laws.findlaw.com/us/238/393.html

|justia=http://supreme.justia.com/us/238/393/case.html

}}{{cite book

|title=Railroads and Clearcuts: Legacy of Congress's 1864 Northern Pacific Railroad Land Grant

|author1=Jensen, Derrick

|author2=Draffan, George

|publisher=Keokee Company Publishing

|year=1995

|isbn=978-1-879628-08-3

}}

The Chamberlain–Ferris Act did not ease the financial trouble faced by many of the O&C counties; very little timber revenue was actually generated from the land, and many counties now had large percentages of their land owned by the federal government, denying them a source of property tax revenue.{{cite web

|url=http://www.oandccounties.com/PDF/BLM.pdf

|title=O&C Lands Desk Reference

|publisher=Association of O&C Counties

|page=2 (in "A Brief Legal History of the O&C Lands")

|access-date=March 6, 2012

|archive-date=March 17, 2012

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120317115746/http://www.oandccounties.com/PDF/BLM.pdf

|url-status=live

}} As these problems compounded into the 1920s, the 18 counties organized the Association of O&C Counties (AOCC) to give itself a voice in Washington, D.C. One of its cofounders, Douglas County district attorney and future U.S. Senator Guy Cordon, began lobbying Oregon's congressional delegation for relief.{{Oregon Encyclopedia|cordon_guy_1890_1969_|Guy Cordon (1890–1969)|author=LaLande, Jeff}} In 1926, a bill introduced by Oregon Senator Robert N. Stanfield, which became known as the Stanfield Act, was passed. This law provided that the U.S. government pay the counties in lieu of property taxes they would have received if the land were privately owned.{{cite news

|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=twszAAAAIBAJ&sjid=g-gDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5329,3664803

|title=New O-C grant bill is passed

|newspaper=The Register-Guard

|date=July 20, 1937

|access-date=March 6, 2012

|archive-date=February 1, 2021

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201022208/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=twszAAAAIBAJ&sjid=g-gDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5329%2C3664803

|url-status=live

}}{{cite web

|url=http://www.oregonwild.org/oregon_forests/old_growth_protection/westside-forests/western-oregon-s-patchwork-public-lands/history-of-blm-and-o-c-lands

|title=History of BLM and O&C Lands

|publisher=Oregon Wild

|access-date=March 6, 2012

|archive-date=March 2, 2011

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110302110710/http://www.oregonwild.org/oregon_forests/old_growth_protection/westside-forests/western-oregon-s-patchwork-public-lands/history-of-blm-and-o-c-lands

|url-status=live

}}{{cite web

|url=https://sos.oregon.gov/blue-book/Pages/facts/history/state-rapid.aspx

|title=Oregon History: Rapid Developments

|publisher=Oregon Blue Book

|access-date=March 6, 2012

|archive-date=October 31, 2018

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181031052423/https://sos.oregon.gov/blue-book/Pages/facts/history/state-rapid.aspx

|url-status=live

}} But since the U.S. government was to be reimbursed from timber revenues, and since timber revenue remained low, very few payments were actually made to the counties, and Congress began to work on new legislation.{{cite web

|url=http://www.forestco.net/Final_Report.pdf

|title=Recommendations for Making Payments to States and Counties

|publisher=Forest Counties Payment Committee

|page=14

|access-date=March 6, 2012

|archive-date=November 21, 2008

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081121083309/http://www.forestco.net/Final_Report.pdf

|url-status=live

}}

File:Oandc-rac.jpg]]In 1937, Congress again sought to ensure federal funding for the 18 O&C counties. The Oregon and California Revested Lands Sustained Yield Management Act of 1937 ({{usc|43|2601}}), commonly referred as the O&C Act, directed the United States Department of the Interior to harvest timber from the O&C lands (as well as the Coos Bay Wagon Road Lands) on a sustained yield basis. The legislation returned 50 percent of timber sales receipts to the counties, and 25 percent to the U.S. Treasury to reimburse the federal government for payments made to the counties prior to establishment of the Act. The law specifically provided that the lands be managed, including reforestation and protection of watershed, to ensure a permanent source of timber, and therefore, revenue to the counties.{{cite web

|url=http://www.blm.gov/or/plans/wopr/oclands.php

|title=O&C Lands Act of 1937

|publisher=Bureau of Land Management

|access-date=March 6, 2012

|archive-date=August 31, 2011

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110831015920/http://www.blm.gov/or/plans/wopr/oclands.php

|url-status=live

}}

Under the O&C Act, the Department of the Interior under its United States General Land Office and later succeeded by the Bureau of Land Management, managed more than 44 billion board feet of standing inventory in 1937 into more than 60 billion board feet by the mid-1990s, and harvested more than 44 billion board feet over that time period. In 1951, the U.S. Treasury had been fully reimbursed, and the 25 percent of the revenue that had previously gone to the Treasury now reverted to the counties; in 1953, the counties opted to divert that money to maintenance of the land and roads, reforestation, as well as recreational facilities and other improvements.{{cite web

|url=http://www.oandccounties.com/index.htm

|title=Promises to keep

|publisher=Association of O&C Counties

|access-date=March 6, 2012

|archive-date=March 17, 2012

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120317115856/http://www.oandccounties.com/index.htm

|url-status=live

}} A 1970 GAO report contained an estimate that from its implementation through 1969, the counties had received a total of $300 million as a result of the Act.{{cite web

|url=http://gao.gov/products/088923

|title=Payments on Revested Oregon and California Lands and Reconveyed Coos Bay Wagon Road Lands

|publisher=Government Accountability Office

|date=March 23, 1970

|access-date=April 2, 2012

|archive-date=December 11, 2008

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211074222/http://gao.gov/products/088923

|url-status=live

}} The authors of the report also estimated that most counties received more from the government payments than they would have if the land had been held privately.

The O&C Act achieved what the previous legislation had failed to do: provide a stable revenue to the counties. This revenue became a vital part of the budgets of the O&C counties, paying for county-provided services such as law enforcement and corrections and health and social services. With this funding seemingly guaranteed, the counties kept other taxes much lower than other counties in the state, increasing their dependence on the timber payments. For example, the property tax in Curry County is 60 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, far below the state average of $2.81 per $1000.{{cite news

|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2012/03/oregon_timber_counties_scrambl.html

|title=Rural Oregon counties scramble as timber payments dry up, while critics say it's time they paid for services

|date=March 4, 2012

|access-date=March 6, 2012

|last=Mortenson

|first=Eric

|newspaper=The Oregonian

|archive-date=March 6, 2012

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120306121838/http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2012/03/oregon_timber_counties_scrambl.html

|url-status=live

}}

In 1989, annual timber harvest revenue on federal forest land nationwide peaked at $1.5 billion.{{cite web

|url=http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5102930.pdf

|title=Sustaining Forest and Communities: Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act 2000–2007

|publisher=United States Forest Service

|date=October 2008

|access-date=March 6, 2012

|archive-date=March 7, 2016

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307111920/http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5102930.pdf

|url-status=dead

}} Following that year, the impact of overharvesting and increased environmental concerns began to negatively impact timber sales on the O&C lands. In 1994, the federal Northwest Forest Plan was implemented. Designed to guide forest management of federal lands while protecting old-growth forest habitat for endangered species such as the Northern spotted owl, the plan restricted the land available for timber harvest. By 1998, revenue on federal forest lands fell to a third of the peak 1989 revenue, with areas in the Northwest particularly hard-hit.

To offset the effects of the loss of timber revenue, in 1993, President Bill Clinton proposed a 10-year program of payments, set at 85 percent of the average O&C Act payments from 1986 to 1990, and declining 3 percent annually.{{cite web

|url=http://www.ccionline.org/repository//Documents/Public%20Lands%20Info/CRS%20Secure%20Rural%20Schools.pdf

|title=Reauthorizing the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000

|last=Gorte

|first=Ross W

|date=June 24, 2010

|access-date=March 6, 2012

|publisher=Colorado Counties Inc.

|page=5

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006155844/http://www.ccionline.org/repository//Documents/Public%20Lands%20Info/CRS%20Secure%20Rural%20Schools.pdf

|archive-date=October 6, 2011

|url-status=dead

}} These "spotted owl" or "safety net" payments were passed by Congress as part of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 ({{USPL|103|66}}).

With the payments set to expire in 2003, work began in 1999 to seek an extension to the payments. The O&C counties joined with other rural counties (including 15 of Oregon's other 18 counties) that also faced falling timber revenues to lobby Congress for another solution. In 2000, Congress passed the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act ({{USPL|106|393}}), which authorizes western counties, including the O&C counties, to receive federal payments to compensate for loss of timber revenue until 2006. Payments to O&C counties, which included O&C revenue as well as revenue on Forest Service land, averaged about $250 million per year from 2000 to 2006.{{cite news

|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2012/01/loss_of_federal_forest_payment.html

|title=Loss of federal forest payments has Oregon counties looking for revenue while having millions that can't be tapped

|date=January 21, 2012

|access-date=March 6, 2012

|last=Mortenson

|first=Eric

|newspaper=The Oregonian

|archive-date=January 25, 2012

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120125042658/http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2012/01/loss_of_federal_forest_payment.html

|url-status=live

}} The act was extended for one year in 2007, and in 2008, a four-year extension was included in the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 that phased out the program by 2012.{{cite web

| url = http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/10/33_oregon_counties_will_share.html

| work = The Oregonian

| title = 33 Oregon counties will share an unexpected $740 million

| last = Preusch

| first = Matthew

| access-date = March 6, 2012

| archive-date = October 2, 2012

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121002155156/http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/10/33_oregon_counties_will_share.html

| url-status = live

}} The extension expired on September 30, 2011, and the final payment of just over $40 million was delivered to the O&C counties in early 2012.{{cite press release

|url=http://www.blm.gov/or/news/files/OR-12-04_Secure_Rural_Schools_Payments_1-12.pdf

|title=BLM distributes final payments to counties

|date=January 20, 2012

|publisher=Bureau of Land Management

|access-date=March 6, 2012

|archive-date=March 8, 2012

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308101832/http://www.blm.gov/or/news/files/OR-12-04_Secure_Rural_Schools_Payments_1-12.pdf

|url-status=live

}}

In late 2011, Oregon Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley proposed legislation to extend the payments for another five years. The move was backed by Governor John Kitzhaber and the entire Oregon congressional delegation.{{cite news

|url = http://www.ktvz.com/news/29398137/detail.html

|title = Oregon Leaders Announce County Payments Deal

|publisher = KTVZ.com

|access-date = March 6, 2012

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120405171304/http://www.ktvz.com/news/29398137/detail.html

|archive-date = April 5, 2012

}} Republican and Democratic members of Oregon's congressional delegation also proposed setting aside some of the federal land in Oregon as public trusts in which half would be designated for harvest to provide revenue for the counties, and half designated as a conservation area. President Barack Obama's proposed 2013 United States federal budget included $294 million to extend the program for fiscal year 2013 with a plan to continue the payments for four more years, with the amount declining 10% each year.{{cite news

|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/02/county_payments_included_in_wh.html

|title=Payments to cash-strapped rural counties included in White House budget proposal

|last=Pope

|first=Charles

|newspaper=The Oregonian

|date=February 13, 2012

|access-date=March 6, 2012

|archive-date=February 17, 2012

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217162037/http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/02/county_payments_included_in_wh.html

|url-status=live

}}{{cite news

|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/02/house_committee_to_consider_co.html

|title=County timber payments plan moving fast in U.S. House

|last=Pope

|first=Charles

|newspaper=The Oregonian

|date=February 15, 2012

|access-date=March 6, 2012

|archive-date=February 19, 2012

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120219005740/http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/02/house_committee_to_consider_co.html

|url-status=live

}}

In March 2012, the U.S. Senate added an amendment to the surface transportation bill that authorized a one-year extension to the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act. Oregon counties would have received a total of $102 million from the legislation in 2012, to be divided among all 33 counties that currently receive payments. In 2008, Oregon received $250 million from the program.{{cite news

|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/03/senate_approves_one-year_exten.html

|title=U.S. Senate approves one-year extension for county payments

|last=Pope

|first=Charles

|newspaper=The Oregonian

|date=March 8, 2012

|access-date=March 8, 2012

|archive-date=September 5, 2012

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120905081945/http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/03/senate_approves_one-year_exten.html

|url-status=live

}} The full transportation bill, including the amendment, passed the Senate by a 74–22 vote,{{cite news

|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/newsflash/index.ssf/story/us-senate-passes-bill-extending-county-payments/c4aefd6f88364b60a5208385b951dc4a

|title=US Senate passes bill extending county payments

|date=March 14, 2012

|access-date=March 16, 2012

|newspaper=The Oregonian

}} but the U.S. House of Representatives refused to vote on the Senate bill, instead passing a three-month extension to the current transportation bill that did not contain a county payments extension.{{cite news

|url=http://www.registerguard.com/web/updates/27840082-55/bill-county-federal-payments-timber.html.csp

|title=House stalls county timber aid bill

|last=Bolt

|first=Greg

|newspaper=The Register-Guard

|date=March 30, 2012

|access-date=April 2, 2012

}} In July 2012, the Secure Rural Schools Act renewal amendment was included in the transportation bill approved by Congress and signed by the President.{{cite news

|url=http://www.dailytidings.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120630/NEWS02/206300307/-1/NEWSMAP

|title=Congress extends timber payments

|last=Barnard

|first=Jeff

|newspaper=Ashland Daily Tidings

|date=June 30, 2012

|access-date=July 1, 2012

|archive-date=March 3, 2016

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303223128/http://www.dailytidings.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20120630%2FNEWS02%2F206300307%2F-1%2FNEWSMAP

|url-status=live

}}{{cite news

|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/06/congress_clears_transportation.html

|title=Congress clears transportation bill carrying $100 million for Oregon's financially squeezed rural counties

|date=June 29, 2012

|access-date=July 1, 2012

|last=Pope

|first=Charles

|newspaper=The Oregonian

|archive-date=July 6, 2012

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120706140916/http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/06/congress_clears_transportation.html

|url-status=live

}}{{cite news

|url=http://www.uniondemocrat.com/News/Local-News/Timber-payments-get-Obamas-OK

|title=Timber payments get Obama's OK

|newspaper=The Union Democrat

|date=July 11, 2012

|access-date=July 20, 2012

|archive-date=November 23, 2015

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151123031532/http://www.uniondemocrat.com/News/Local-News/Timber-payments-get-Obamas-OK

|url-status=live

}} This was widely expected to be the last renewal of the program, but in September 2013, Congress passed another one-year extension to the program, though again at reduced levels.{{cite news

|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/mapes/index.ssf/2013/09/timber_payments_for_oregon_cou.html

|title=Timber payments for Oregon counties clears last congressional hurdle

|last=Mapes

|first=Jeff

|date=September 26, 2013

|access-date=September 26, 2013

|newspaper=The Oregonian

|archive-date=September 29, 2013

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130929083915/http://www.oregonlive.com/mapes/index.ssf/2013/09/timber_payments_for_oregon_cou.html

|url-status=live

}}

With future revenue uncertain, several Oregon counties now face a severe financial crisis to pay for county services, including law enforcement, social services, justice and corrections systems, election services and road maintenance among others. With county services required by state law and bankruptcy not permitted, counties have considered merging to save costs, and explored new sources of revenue.

One of the hardest-hit counties, Curry County, introduced a ballot measure to add a 3% sales tax to pay for county services.{{cite news

|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2012/02/oregon_is_a_sales_tax_hater_bu.html

|title=Oregon is a sales tax hater, but Curry County may use it to replace federal timber funding

|date=February 16, 2012

|access-date=March 6, 2012

|last=Mortenson

|first=Eric

|newspaper=The Oregonian

|archive-date=March 1, 2012

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120301111728/http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2012/02/oregon_is_a_sales_tax_hater_bu.html

|url-status=live

}} Oregon is one of only five states in the United States with no county or state sales tax, and the tax has been voted down regularly by voters whenever it has been proposed (though some areas assess a gas tax, and two cities in tourist areas, Ashland and Yachats, assess a local tax on prepared food). In Josephine County, after a proposed property tax increase to pay for law enforcement was defeated in May 2012, the sheriff's office reduced its staff by 2/3 and released inmates from the county jail to reduce spending.{{cite news

|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/06/reactionary_josephine_county_l.html

|title=Josephine County lives with its decision to vote down law enforcement tax levy

|date=June 1, 2012

|last=Mortenson

|first=Eric

|newspaper=The Oregonian

|access-date=June 4, 2012

|archive-date=June 3, 2012

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120603142257/http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/06/reactionary_josephine_county_l.html

|url-status=live

}} Lane County released 96 prisoners from its prisons and laid off 40 law enforcement personnel to cut costs.{{cite news

|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2012/06/money_from_congress_wont_put_f.html

|title=Money from Congress won't put freed Lane County prisoners back behind bars

|date=June 30, 2012

|access-date=July 1, 2012

|last=Hunsberger

|first=Brent

|newspaper=The Oregonian

|archive-date=July 3, 2012

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120703210132/http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2012/06/money_from_congress_wont_put_f.html

|url-status=live

}}

In 2012, the Oregon Legislative Assembly passed a law to allow O&C counties to use timber funds previously reserved for road maintenance to pay for law enforcement patrols.{{cite news

|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2012/03/legislature_passes_bill_allowi.html

|title=Legislature passes bill allowing hard-hit timber counties to tap road funds for operating money

|date=March 5, 2012

|access-date=March 6, 2012

|last=Mortenson

|first=Eric

|newspaper=The Oregonian

|archive-date=March 4, 2016

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304055629/http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2012/03/legislature_passes_bill_allowi.html

|url-status=live

}}

In late 2013, the House passed a forest management bill co-sponsored by Oregon Representatives Peter DeFazio, Greg Walden, and Kurt Schrader that would include increased timber harvests on O&C lands along with resumption of some Secure Rural Schools funding.

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Category:Bureau of Land Management areas in Oregon

Category:Forests of Oregon

Category:History of transportation in Oregon

Category:Land use in Oregon

Category:Protected areas of Benton County, Oregon

Category:Protected areas of Clackamas County, Oregon

Category:Protected areas of Columbia County, Oregon

Category:Protected areas of Coos County, Oregon

Category:Protected areas of Curry County, Oregon

Category:Protected areas of Douglas County, Oregon

Category:Protected areas of Jackson County, Oregon

Category:Protected areas of Josephine County, Oregon

Category:Protected areas of Klamath County, Oregon

Category:Protected areas of Lane County, Oregon

Category:Protected areas of Lincoln County, Oregon

Category:Protected areas of Linn County, Oregon

Category:Protected areas of Marion County, Oregon

Category:Protected areas of Multnomah County, Oregon

Category:Protected areas of Polk County, Oregon

Category:Protected areas of Tillamook County, Oregon

Category:Protected areas of Washington County, Oregon

Category:Protected areas of Yamhill County, Oregon

Category:United States federal public land legislation

Category:1916 establishments in California

Category:1916 establishments in Oregon