Clatsop judge dismisses case brought by school district against state over reduced timber revenue

By ALEX BAUMHARDT/Oregon Capital Chronicle

A Clatsop County circuit court judge has dismissed a tiny school district’s case against the state over new limits on logging that could lead to reduced funding for the district.

The Jewell School District, a single school serving 124 students in Clatsop County, funds its current $4.3 million budget entirely with timber revenue from state forest harvests. Clatsop County is one of 13 Forest Trust Land Counties that has, for about the last 80 years, gotten a kickback from timber harvests on state forests within the counties.

District leaders argued that the Oregon Department of Forestry will cause it and the forestry department serious financial harm by allowing a habitat conservation plan to move forward that would reduce logging about 35% in the Clatsop State Forest. The Western Oregon State Forest Habitat Conservation Plan, approved in March, will scale back logging an average of 20% on 630,000 thousand acres of western state forests for the next 70 years to protect 17 threatened or endangered species.

In their lawsuit, district leaders argued that the Oregon Department of Forestry would renege on its legal duty to adequately fund itself. About 98% of operating and administrative costs for managing state forests is paid for with timber revenue from logging on those forests. A 2010 administrative rule mandates that the Oregon Department of Forestry harvest enough timber from state forests to fulfill its obligations to manage the forests. The suit alleged that the harvest levels proposed in the habitat conservation plan fail to do that.

Clatsop County Circuit Court Judge Beau Peterson ruled Tuesday that there was not enough evidence that the forestry department couldn’t find other cost-saving or revenue-generating activities to make up for any lost revenue from the habitat plan. He also determined that ruling against the state on the administrative rule wouldn’t guarantee the requested financial relief to the school district, which is mostly speculative at this point.

John DiLorenzo, the attorney hired to represent the district in the case, did not say what next steps he would take but that he would in the next week be “consulting with our client.” DiLorenzo is part of the Davis Wright Tremaine law firm, which has offices in Portland and New York.

DiLorenzo filed the lawsuit in March, arguing that the state was critically defunding the forestry department and the school district in passing its habitat plan. Jewell School District has paid DiLorenzo and Davis Wright Tremaine nearly $150,000 so far for his work on the case, at a rate of $955 an hour. Jewell Superintendent Cory Pederson previously told the Capital Chronicle district leaders were willing to “bet the farm” to win their case against the state.

Should the Jewell School District lose its timber revenue, the Oregon Department of Education is obligated to step in and ensure adequate funding. Under the state education funding equalization formula — which takes into account enrollment along with student needs for language services, disability, poverty and more — Jewell would have to operate on about $3.62 million, according to department officials. That’s about 17% less than its current operating level.

• Oregon Capital Chronicle is a nonprofit Salem-based news service that focuses its reporting on Oregon state government, politics and policy.