There has been a lot of space dedicated on MGx to the absence of a formal business plan available to the public regarding the proposal to transfer management of the Coos Bay Wagon Road lands from the BLM to the Coquille Tribe. The tribal proposal is strongly endorsed by the Coos County commissioners but they have yet to provide any type of prospectus that supports their claim of $3.5 million to $8.5 million in annual revenue while still adhering to all environmental laws or that explains their enthusiasm.
The tribe has claimed that 1,600 jobs will be created under their management but fails to provide any metrics and as Dr Phil Ruder of Pacific University explains this job creation numbers are often inflated. An empirical study undertaken in Tillamook and Clatsop counties over a 16 year period showed that just 28 jobs were created when 1,400 had been projected.
As documented here I have tried without success to obtain job and harvest volumes from the tribe, the commissioners and the sources to whom they have deferred. At the October 4, BOC meeting I tried again to get some details and while the commissioners are “passionate” about this proposal they still cannot explain why. According to The World, tribal estimates of jobs and revenue were calculated by Dr Norm Johnson of OSU.
Coquille resident Mary Geddry questioned the tribe’s timber revenue estimates. She suggested the creation of 1,600 jobs was optimistic, if not inflated.
Tim Vredenburg, the tribe’s forestry expert, explained that the job estimates were calculated using a formula form the Oregon Forest Resource Institute that primarily counted milling, logging, trucking and consultant jobs.
He said their harvest figures were based on 20 different scenarios and calculated by Norm Johnson, a forestry expert from Oregon State University.
In an email responding to request for the formulas Dr Johnson says he is not the source of the data provided by the tribe. Johnson writes, “…I was NOT the source of the economic information you cite. I do not know the source of the numbers presented in the Coos Bay World article. I did not do the analysis attributed to me in the article. I have asked the Coos Bay World to publish a correction.”
It is pretty clear that tribal management will lean more toward industrial timber practices effectively privatizing public resources without regard to the impact upon the market as a whole. It is also clear that the commissioners don’t want to come right out and admit the CBWR will be managed in a manner inconsistent with the NWFP which is just plain dishonest.
I will have some video up about the BOC meeting soon but for now you can watch it at Coos Media Center – the O&C and CBWR discussions begin at about 42 minutes.
I think we all need to demand answers on this one. It’s hard to know which direction to go, when they all seem to lead to nowhere !
These guys need to explain each and every one of these discrepancies. They are sending out so much crap, right now, we need to rein them in and make them publicly answer .
And if Bob Main continues to ridicule the public which pays his damn wages as he has done the last two meetings, we need to do more. He sits there and laughs, continues to do so while the public is addressing him. That is the most disrespectful thing I think I’ve ever seen from a public official on the local level.
Who the hell does he think he is to mock and laugh as the public speaks? I’m getting real tired of these clowns.
And I hope everyone has seen Cam Perry and his interpretation of Jeffrey Dahlmer at the last meeting. I’ll tell you, that brought a real powerful flashback to me, it was gutteral and it was abusive and it was frightening to someone who has been in the unfortunate position of facing an abusive man. It actually kept me awake. The snarling like a mad dog.
AND HE WORKS FOR WE THE PEOPLE. Of course we didn’t vote for him, and with this show of rabid anger, he sure as hell won’t get my vote. Something is wrong there.
I’m serious about this, I watched it late last night and it was really upsetting. In the face of the public no less. Imagine that anger outside the camera view. Geesh.
At the 10/4/11 Board of Commissioners (BOC) meeting Commissioner Parry said, “The tribe hired one of the best forest economists in the country to take a look at the jobs and dollars generated.” [You can see the video of the meeting here: http:/coosmediacenter.pegcentral.com/player.php?video=78e648e64c1018be0d5e16b271a51c41]
The World newspaper (10/5/11) said, “Tim Vredenburg, the tribe’s forestry expert, “said their harvest figures were based on 20 different scenarios and calculated by Norm Johnson, a forestry expert from Oregon State University.”
By telling a barefaced lie about the source of their projected jobs and money the BOC and the tribe reveal their willingness to deceive the public. Trust and respect are the victims of their deceit. Doubts and fears are now justified and reasonable.