The way that I see it:Oregon has some terrific resources aside from lumber and they've just decided to tap those resources. Remember, Silicon Valley was started because of its proximity to graduate schools at Stanford and Berkeley and the technical expertise they produced. The same could happen with U of O, though in a different way.
What comes with that, of course, is a bunch of stuff Oregonians may not like -- such as movie stars building hideous homes on prime real estate on the coast or a proliferation of shopping malls with Starbucks. In short, you'll trade off some natural beauty for economic growth.
"...they've just decided to tap those resources."
I thought that logging was essentially banned because of that stupid spotted owl? The enviromentalist wackos want to breech the dams.