Trump’s big bill calls for much more logging. One provision could cost Oregon counties

New federal laws could “lock up” timber land for decades at a time, raising concerns big companies could elbow out smaller competitors and that timber revenue for counties could be delayed for years.

President Donald Trump’s tax cuts and spending bill, which he signed into law earlier this month, increases the length of federal logging contracts to a minimum of 20 years.

The contracts, which determine how long a logging company has to harvest on the land under contract, have typically averaged

three to four years

, and the

longest contracts

extended up to 10 years.

The concern raised by a coalition of timber companies and local governments is that companies could sign long-term contracts, then wait years to harvest trees.

“If the timber volume is tied up in these 20 year contracts,” Doug Robertson, executive director of the Association of O&C counties, said, “that volume then is no longer available to generate revenue for the counties and the state.”

Last year, timber sales distributed

$68.7 million

to Oregon counties. Robertson’s group represents 18 western Oregon counties that are home to timber lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

The state and its Common School Fund, which is distributed among its many districts, also receive funding from timber sale revenues that could be reduced or delayed under the new arrangement.

Oregon’s U.S. senators, Democrats Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, said they proposed amendments that weren’t adopted.

“This one-two punch to rural investments is leaving our communities with significantly less reliable federal funding to keep their schools open, maintain roads, restore watersheds, and ensure there are police officers and firefighters that can keep them safe,” Merkley wrote in a statement.

The bill calls for increased logging on federal lands, too, a provision cheered by a timber industry that’s long argued environmental restrictions are too severe.

Yet a coalition of U.S. logging and timber companies, including several from Oregon, told lawmakers in a letter that the longer contracts could hurt competition by “locking up” timber volume. A single buyer, they argued, could tie up all the land, freezing out their competitors.

“Potentially ‘locking up’ 20-years of timber volume of an entire national forest or district to a single bidder would harm competition, markets, and prices where multiple mills, contractors, and private parties have interests,” the letter signed by Stimson Lumber Co., Woodgrain, Pendleton Lumber Co. and several other companies wrote.

Federal lands typically produce around 3 billion board feet of harvested timber each year. The new bill calls for an additional 250 million board feet per year.

Merkley’s office said dramatically increased logging might be harder to achieve because of the Trump administration’s dramatic cuts in the federal workforce, including among the staff who plan and negotiate timber sales.

But the timber industry remains broadly optimistic about the changes in the bill.

Nick Smith, spokesperson for the American Forest Resource Council, a forestry trade association, welcomed the increase in logging.

“At the end of the day what we’re looking for, what our members are looking for — the wood products manufacturers, the small logging companies that we represent and others — is some kind of stability and predictability in long term timber supply,” Smith said.

Last year, about 4,600 worked for Oregon forestry and logging businesses. Another 22,000 worked in sawmills and wood manufacturing.

Amanda Astor, forest policy manager of Associated Oregon Loggers, a trade association for logging and forest operator businesses, said that the bill is a turning point for the forestry workforce.

“We expect to see more multi-year projects, longer-term job opportunities, and more family-wage jobs returning to rural areas,” Astor said.

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