TIMBER INDUSTRY/LOGGING

Problem

Oregon’s timber and logging industry built this state — but the working people who sustained it are being cut out, while corporations extract profits and leave communities in crisis.

Today:

• Mills have shut down.

• Timber jobs have disappeared.

• Forest health has declined.

• Wildfire seasons have become catastrophic.

• Logging towns are struggling to survive.

Meanwhile:

• Over 40 percent of private forestland is controlled by a few corporations and Wall Street timber REITs

• Jobs dropped from 90,000 to about 40,000

• Profits are routed out of state, leaving schools and counties broke.

• Clearcutting, monocropping, and short harvest rotations increase fire risks and water damage.

• Wildfires now burn millions of acres, fueled by climate change and degraded forests.

• Loggers face high injury rates, unstable wages, and limited healthcare.

• Tribal nations are excluded from stewardship on stolen ancestral lands.

Timber is not the enemy — corporate extraction without accountability is.

Solutions

1. Rebuild timber jobs with stable wages, union strength, and worker ownership

• Re-open shuttered mills through:

  • Worker-owned co-ops

  • Tribal partnerships

  • Community-owned mills

• Apprenticeships for:

  • Sustainable forestry

  • Millwrights and machinists

  • Wildfire mitigation

  • Mass timber and engineered wood

• Prevailing wage standards on federal timber contracts

• Support union organizing through the PRO Act

Impact:

Long-term jobs stay in rural communities, not hedge funds.

2. End Wall Street’s grip on Oregon forests

• Tax timber REITs and profit exporters at full, fair rates

• Require corporate landowners to pay the full amount of local property taxes.

• Incentives for:

  • Family-owned forests

  • Tribal stewardship

  • Community forest trusts

• Restrict hedge fund and foreign land grabs

Impact: Revenue circulates locally instead of leaving the state.

3. Restore healthy forests and reduce megafire risk

• Major federal investment in:

  • Prescribed burning

  • Forest thinning based on ecology, not profit cycles

  • Invasive species removal

  • Riparian buffer restoration

• Replace destructive clearcuts with restoration-focused harvesting.

• Expand and fund wildfire crews year-round.

• Partner with Tribes to scale traditional fire practices

Impact: Fire danger drops, forests recover, and restoration creates jobs.

4. Build a climate-resilient timber economy

• Expand manufacturing for:

  • Mass timber

  • Engineered wood

  • Carbon-storing building materials

• Prioritize local lumber for:

  • Public housing

  • Schools

  • Community infrastructure

• Federal funding for wood innovation labs and rural tech transfer hubs

Impact: Rural Oregon becomes a leader in green building, not a casualty of collapse.

5. Protect water, wildlife, and community health

• Strong science-based buffers around:

  • Drinking water

  • Salmon habitat

  • Tribal fishing waters

• Replace aerial chemical spraying with targeted application.

• Require companies to repair environmental damage.

• Transparency for all pesticide, spraying, and harvest practices

Impact: Logging continues — without poisoning land, water, or people.

6. Return stewardship to Tribes

• Support Tribal reacquisition of forestlands.

• Fund:

  • Indigenous land management training

  • Cultural burning programs

  • Tribally owned mills

• Tribal veto over projects impacting treaty-protected ecosystems

Impact: Restorative justice and stewardship are rooted in thousands of years of knowledge.

Bottom Line

Timber towns should not be sacrificed so corporations can ship profits offshore.

Sustainable forestry creates:

• Stable local jobs

• Strong rural economies

• Healthier forests and wildlife

• Lower wildfire risk

• A future for logging families and communities

We do not have to choose between paychecks and preservation.

We rebuild a timber economy that protects land, workers, and generations to come — and we keep Oregon’s forests working for Oregon, not Wall Street.