A 1973 inventory of the Coos County lands conducted by Oregon State University offers another perspective to the discussion regarding whether or not to allow the Coquille Tribe to manage the Coos Bay Wagon Road Lands. According to the Coos County, Oregon Resource Atlas the county is comprised of 1,627 square miles (1,041,280 acres) with 87.23% considered primarily forest land. Approximately 244,488 acres or 23% under federal control, mostly through the BLM.
About 34 percent of the forest land in Coos County, 303,000 acres in 1963, was in public ownership. This includes 66,000 acres of national forest. The national forest land is managed under the “Multiple Use-Sustained Yield” concept. This means the management of forest and related areas in a manner that will conserve the basic land resource itself while at the same time producing high-level sustained yields of water, timber, recreation, wildlife, and forage.
On many private holdings, the only management is related to the harvesting of mature timber, while on other private holdings considerable attention is given to measures that will maximize the continuous production of timber. Tree farming is gaining acceptance by private owners, and some cutover land is being reforested and managed for timber production.
There was an estimated 900,000 acres of commercial forest land in Coos County in 1963. Commercial forest land is forest land that is (a) producing, or is physically capable of producing, useable crops of wood; (b) economically
available, now or prospectively, for timber harvest; and (c) not withdrawn from timber harvest.
In 1963, the U.S. Forest Service estimated there was 5,000 acres of non-commercial forest land in Coos County. This includes unproductive forest land incapable of yielding crops of industrial wood because of adverse site
conditions, plus productive public forest land withdrawn from commercial timber use through statute or administrative order.
Already, the bulk of these forest lands are under private control so it is pretty curious to consider that turning over a tiny sliver of 58,000+ acres to what will amount to private control will somehow cure the county’s ills. After all, 66% of the county is in private hands and it is private management of the forests that has helped created the current economic malaise. It is unlikely Congress will transfer control anytime soon but it is very likely that the primary reason for wanting this stretch of timber has more to do with providing a short term fix for mill owners after their own failure to adapt to changes and inability to manage their assets for the long term.
