Forestry

At our 14th Annual Celebration for the Environment, Governor John Kitzhaber offered stirring remarks about the importance of the OLCV and our work on myriad conservation issues. And he affirmed his commitment to work with us to protect Oregon's great natural legacy for future generations. 

Here's just a small sample of his remarks:

Since I was last in office, you have had a truly productive eight years – organizing, educating, and sometimes scratching and clawing to protect Oregon’s land, air and water for future generations. 

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a column for BlueOregon focusing on the absurd amount of money Stimson Lumber and other old-guard timber companies had dumped into Chris Dudley's campaign for governor. (Incidentally, yesterday Stimson funneled another $100,000 to Dudley bringing their total to a staggering $385,000.)

The doom: Oregon is facing tough challenges

As we all know, Oregon is in the middle of a budget crisis.

In May, the Office of Economic Analysis issued a revenue forecast for the state General Fund that showed a sharp drop in the money available to fund state programs that support our natural resources, as well as critical services like healthcare and schools. State officials predict a deficit of $577 million for the current 2009-11 biennium, which ends next June.