I live in Southern Oregon in Douglas County. Since they have shut down most the logging even on the county owned lands, we are in serious financial trouble. Did you know that we are in the 19th year of receiving 50 million dollars per year from the feds due to the restrictions put on logging our county owned lands? There are federal lands, state lands and O&C lands, county owned lands that were given to Coos, Curry, Josephine and Douglas from the feds to support our local governments over 80 years ago. They should never been included in the spotted owl suit.
BTW, the spotted owl population over the last 19 years has not increased at all, in fact they are now being eaten by the Bard owl and are diminishing in numbers big time. The coast range is the #1 growing area of Douglas Fir trees in the world. But all we do with them is grow them and then they all burn up in fires and even then we cannot log them and replant, there are thousands of acres of burnt forests that are rotting and growing weeds as the environmentalist won't allow us to harvest our burnt trees and replant. What I try to teach people is Oregon's resource crop are trees, instead of an annual crop ours is 40 years, let us manage them ourselves instead of a bunch of pinheads in DC that don't know anything about our resources and how to harness them to provide jobs and security for our population.
Meanwhile unemployment is over 15% and the only resource we are exporting any more are our children.
I left Jacksonville 1.5 years ago. I know of which you speak.
Have you not heard? - Obama has just recalled the Secure Rural Schools payments under the sequestration. This will likely collapse a couple of Oregon forest counties. It will wreak havoc on forest County schools and road depts throughout the West. I am sure it was calculated to maximum hurt rural counties which tend to be Republican in voting patterns.
How utterly juvenile, mean and vindictive this Administration is.