FEDERATION OF WESTERN OUTDOOR CLUBS

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OPPOSITION TO THE UMPQUA LAND EXCHANGE PROJECT (OREGON) 

The timber industry is using land exchanges as a way to avoid environmental restrictions. Trading is used to obtain ownership of the last remnants of publicly owned old-growth forests.

A particularly egregious exchange of this type is the proposed Umpqua land exchange that could potentially impact as many as 675,000 acres in the Umpqua River watershed in western Oregon. Under this proposal, cutover lands will be traded for prime forest lands of the BLM and the Forest Service. The only values to be considered will be the number of board feet of timber affected.

As a result of lobbying in Congress, two riders were approved which provided over $6 million of taxpayer money to fund this project. One rider even requires the agencies involved to proceed with the project with little or no public input.

The Federation of Western Outdoor Clubs opposes the Umpqua Land Exchange Project and urges its members to contact Members of Congress and ask them to oppose approval of this ill-considered exchange. If it is in the public interest to obtain private checkerboard lands, then Congress should provide the funds for the purchase of these lands rather than attempting to acquire them by exchanging other valuable public lands.