By Ann Vileisis
Shortly after our most recent quarterly Kalmiopsis Audubon Storm Petrel newsletter was published in January, the Curry County Board of Commissioners (BOC) proposed two emergency resolutions related to wild fire risks, one to assume so-called “constitutional management authority” and another to “invoke policing powers of the state to assert unilateral authority to clear and thin undergrowth and to remove fire-damaged trees” from federal lands. One resolution was related to the recent state wildfire risk maps and another was more fundamentally to assert intent to take over management of federal lands—and had been put forth on the advice of Arizona-based consultant Doyel Shamley. Commissioner Patrick Hollinger recommended that everyone review a website that Mr. Shamley put together: www.countystrong.org —which conveys various strategies and ideas for county governments to assert control over federal lands, as well as other ideological positions.
Since the news of the resolutions was first announced, KAS has been sending alerts to our members about this urgent topic. I am pleased to report that we had a massive turnout of local citizens asking hard questions and raising concerns at a series of three county meetings. We will need to stay vigilant, but the good news is that we’ve made a difference!
Read more below about what happened at the three county meetings and why conservationists strongly oppose local control over federal PUBLIC lands.
Curry residents question judgement of BOC over proposal to take over management of federal public lands
At a Feb. 5, 2025, Curry Board of Commissioners meeting in Brookings, concerned citizens raised important questions and voiced opposition to two emergency resolutions that included language to assert county control over management of federal lands. Many pointed out that it was not constitutional for a local government to assert authority over a federal governmental lands and management purview. Moreover, as local fire fighters argued, one BOC emergency declaration —by putting a moratorium on defensible space requirements and fire safe building codes for new construction— basically rejected the most proven ways to protect people and their homes, as well as firefighters, from wildfire hazards. In short, firefighters cannot save homes that do not have defensible space. This news story says 17 people from north county opposed, and it’s true that 17 spoke, but there were a lot more people present and it wasn’t only people from North Curry. You can read more here.
To see the Oregon Wildfire Risk Map in question, click here.
Big crowd grills Curry BOC over proposed emergency resolutions to take over federal lands
At a Feb. 12 town hall session about the Curry BOC’s emergency resolutions at the Fairground Building in Gold Beach, ~120 people turned out, with the vast majority expressing serious concerns about the Commissioners proposed resolutions to take over federal lands management. Thanks to everyone who showed up and stayed for the long meeting, which had no microphones making it difficult for many people to hear.
Despite a lengthy presentation by Commissioner Hollinger and also by Arizona-based consultant Doyel Shamley at the outset, we still never managed to get a clear sense of what exactly the BOC is actually aiming to do. And honestly, it appeared that none of them actually had a clear sense of what was proposed either. Through apt questions by citizens, it became evident that there has been no legal analysis, no financial analysis, and no feasibility analysis of what had been put forth in the resolutions: the intent to unilaterally take action of logging on federal lands if the state or federal government did not “immediately eliminate” hazardous conditions / and to assert “constitutional management authority.”
At one point, Mr. Hollinger showed a map that depicted that Curry County had more than 60% federal land as if it were a bad thing. Instead, he got an unexpected response: the crowd cheered, with people shouting from the back: “That’s why we live here!” Mr. Hollinger also showed photos from a recent trip to Apache County, Arizona (on his own dime) to learn about their approach to National Forest lands. He shared images of flat Ponderosa Pine forests with undergrowth that was cleared to create more open savannas with lower fire risks. People in the audience groaned and shouted out that the forests of Arizona are different than our steep Siskiyou Mountain forests with their brush and all their streams! Mr. Hollinger also talked about how too much tree canopy (owing to too little logging) intercepted snow, preventing it from landing on the forest floor and reducing stream flow—another example from Arizona that didn’t quite match up with our own place—causing more groans from the audience. A major theme of the public comments was that people did not like the BOC turning to an outside consultant from Arizona–who knows so little about our place–to tell us how to manage our local forestland.
Mr. Hollinger ended up saying that he didn’t really intend to “take over” federal lands but just wanted a seat at the table with the Forest Service to press for more active management. When asked why—if that was truly the case—the resolutions asserted the intent to assume management control over federal lands, he could not really answer—leaving the impression that not all was transparent. Many citizens identified ways that the County could more effectively engage the U.S. Forest Service, such as by talking with USFS staff and participating with the local Forest Collaborative, rather than by “assuming constitutional management authority” using so-called police powers (which is ironic since the sheriff has not been even talking to the BOC as of late).
After several hours of getting grilled by a long string of people who stood up to voice concerns and ask good questions, the Commissioners were asked if they had any intent to change their plan to move forward, and Mr. Hollinger flat out said NO.
Mr. Trost emphasized that his concern was primarily about the state’s recently published wildfire risk maps, which he believed was causing insurance rates to climb, especially in South County. He suggested that, in retrospect, it would have been wiser for two proposed resolutions to be separated. We couldn’t agree more!
Here is the link to the meeting recording.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouUA7VoOMCk
Unfortunately, the camera focused on Mr. Doyel Shamley’s face on a TV screen the whole time, so really you can only listen to the meeting, which doesn’t fully capture the mood of the crowd, which was frustrated and somewhat unruly—after such a poor presentation with so little acknowledgement of all the valid points raised by citizens. However, it’s good to hear so many smart questions and concerns being raised by so many local residents with different perspectives!
Another crowd keeps up pressure on BOC against federal land takeover resolutions
At its Feb. 18 business meeting in Gold Beach, the Curry BOC was poised to move ahead with one of its resolutions to declare a State of Emergency regarding the “Imposition of the State Wildfire Hazard Map and WUI zones.” According to the agenda, the resolution retained language about the Tenth Amendment and the BOC’s intent to assert so-called “constitutional management authority over all public forest lands within the metes and bounds of its border.”
Again between 80 to 100 people showed up—overflowing into the hallway—with many ready to comment on this proposal. However, at the outset of the meeting, Commissioner Jay Trost announced that the BOC was removing the emergency resolution from the agenda, owing to news that Governor Tina Kotek had directed the Oregon Department of Forestry to pause any action on the map and that key Oregon legislators had voiced their intention to significantly amend the map, too. Mr. Trost indicated that he had actually proposed a revised resolution, but that the new version had not been posted online. He also said he had a meeting up in Salem the following day to work on the issue.
Because so many people had turned up, citizens nevertheless took the opportunity to speak again against the idea of taking over federal forest lands—since it was assumed that the issue would come up again with the second resolution.
Yet again, there was an array of excellent testimony by eighteen speakers!
You can read about highlights–or listen to–in this account of the meeting by Whole Community News here:
Or watch the meeting on the Curry Civic TV YouTube channel here:
At the end of the meeting, Commissioners made concluding comments. Mr. Hollinger indicated once again that he did not want to actually take over lands and re-interated his desire simply for a “seat at the table” with the U.S. Forest Service and that he was proceeding to make arrangements for such a meeting. A person in the audience asked again –if that were the case, then why have the language of “police powers” and “constitutional management authority” in the resolutions? –not to let him get away with his apparent double talk. Hollinger indicated that his resolution was under revision.
Commissioner Trost (around 1:30 in the meeting), reflecting on lessons learned, described the public participation on this issue as admirable, and, with humility, he conceded that the roll-out of the emergency resolutions had been an “exercise in ready, fire, aim” —because the topic had started with the HOW but not with the WHY —and that, as many speakers had pointed out, the BOC had not done a good job of discussing the WHY.
Finally, Mr. Alcorn said he did not have a problem admitting mistakes, which he characterized as the BOC’s poor messaging of the issues to the public. He apologized for that and expressed appreciation for the involvement and engagement by the public. He underscored that more engagement is needed to help solve the County’s problems, which are, in short, that the County does not have enough revenue to provide services. He indicated that the BOC had started a citizen advisory committee for revenue ideas and were hoping that some people who had come to these public meetings would sign up to help.
With the resolutions related to public lands possibly coming back in the future, we need to remain vigilant, but I am very pleased to report that the agenda for March 5 does not include any emergency resolutions to take over federal lands and has zero mention of the Arizona consultant Doyel Shamley!
MORE BACKGROUND
Curry County BOC, Feb. 18, Meeting Agenda
Curry County BOC, Feb. 18, Meeting, video recording
Curry County BOC, Feb. 12, Workshop Agenda
Curry County BOC, Feb. 12 Workshop/ Town Hall video recording
Curry County BOC, Feb. 5, Meeting, Brookings video recording
County Strong website
Under documents, see power point presentation prepared by Veritas Consulting’s Doyel Shamley for Curry County, dated Nov. 13, 2024 to make your own assessment of what is being proposed.
Multi day meetings with Veritas Consulting
Public Notice for Nov. 13-14, 2024 workshop
Notice how this public notice does not really explain the topic actually being discussed. The minutes or recording of this meeting has not been made public for 2 months.
Audio file, released on Feb. 18, ONLY AFTER NUMEROUS PEOPLE ASK FOR ITS RELEASE
This is a 12-hour audio file, where Mr. Shamley explains to the Curry BOC how Curry County could pass three resolutions and then assume constitutional authority over public lands management. The recording reveals (11:59-12:05) the consultant’s advice to the BOC to minimize public input in order to pass the resolutions.
Public Notice for a Oct. 3, 2024, BOC-DCO meeting
Notice how this public notice does not really explain the topic actually being discussed. The minutes or recording of this meeting has not been made public for 3 months.
Curry County BOC, June 10, 2024
This is the meeting when Mr. Hollinger, still a commissioner-elect, first talks about the scheme to take over federal lands as a means to generate revenue for Curry County; there is no mention of a fire emergency. The video is timestamped and starts at Mr. Hollinger’s vision.
Oregon Department of Forestry Fire history graph
You may hear the Commissioners describe that the recent run of large wildfires owes to the lack of logging since the 1980s. This longer timeline of Oregon fire history, created by the Oregon Department of Forestry highlights a connection to climate –with warmer dryer conditions (tied to the Pacific Decadal Oscillation) yielding larger and more catastrophic fires.
Why public land defenders oppose local government takeover of public land
Conservationists across the political spectrum have long opposed local government attempts to take over federal forest lands because local governments typically make revenue-generation their top priority, which would very likely lead to privatization of lands that now provide benefits to us all, including clean drinking water, salmon runs, wildlife habitat, and a wide range of recreational opportunities from hiking and hunting, to back country exploring, fishing, boating, birding, and botanizing. When you’re out exploring the backcountry, most gates you find are for private timber lands, which generally need to exclude people to avoid liability. The National Forests were first established by President Theodore Roosevelt more than a century ago to halt the timber industry’s complete liquidation and cutting over of forests that had already occurred in the Northeast, the Southeast, and the upper Midwest. His aim was to see forests managed sustainably over the long term. National Forests are governed by the National Forest Lands Management Act of 1976, in which Congress explicitly recognized the value of public lands and gave the direction for “multiple use,” which includes both extraction and conservation of resources, as well as non consumptive activities like recreation. In the Pacific Northwest, the Northwest Forest Plan of 1994, has provided an added layer of guidance. It is now under revision with the aim of addressing wildfire risks, Tribal concerns, and sustainable timber harvest, while also maintaining habitat for endangered forest species.
Why Curry County went down this path
One reason our county went down the path of looking to “taking over” management of federal forests is linked to its dire financial straits. There is a lack of a sustainable revenue to pay for things like the jail and sheriff’s deputies. Our tax rate has been described as “artificially low” because it was established at the time when big trees were being cut off the National Forest and O&C Lands, and the county received payments. Ever since timber harvest on federal forestland dropped to more sustainable levels (with the Northwest Forest Plan), timber revenues to the county have been lower. In addition, in the late 1990s, Oregon legislature diverted timber severance tax revenues away from counties and toward a timber industry interests. Also, Oregon voters passed Measures 5 and 50 that significantly constrained property taxes. So while costs for providing fundamental government services keep going up, there is not enough money to pay for them. Honestly, our Commissioners have a difficult, if not impossible job, to keep our county solvent, which is why—despite frustrations—it’s always good to treat our elected officials with some measure of appreciation and respect. And if anyone has good ideas to share about revenue streams of management, please volunteer to serve on the budget committee, or send your ideas to the Curry County Commissioners.
Curry Commissioners email addresses:
Brad.Alcorn@currycountyor.gov
Jonathan.Trost@currycountyor.gov
Patrick.Hollinger@currycountyor.gov