OSWA is tracking about a dozen bills.  Following are a few of the bills we are actively engaged with the legislature.  A more complete list will be sent out later this week.

SB 1060 - Introduced by Senator Bates - it redefines navigability, floatage and recreational access to waterway and adjoining properties. 

SB 1060 goes beyond the 2005 Attorney General's opinion by not only addressing floating rights, but also granting rights for public use of the beds and banks.  The definition of public use is so broad and includes "water-dependent activities and incidental uses connect with those activities" that it would include fishing, camping, picnicking, fires to cook, and more.

The legislation also grants the public the ability to portage without permission above the high water mark not only for emergencies but to continue use of a waterway.  This again goes beyond the AG's opinion and the case law, which only allows use of uplands for emergencies and when a boater has lost control of his boat at no fault of his own.

The bill states it protects the rights of a person engaged in farming practices, but allowing the public to access private lands does not protect landowner rights.  The Oregon Farm Bureau, the Oregon Cattleman and Dairy Farmers testified at a February 2 hearing that they maintain dangerous irrigation pumps and canals along waterways, run cows and bulls along the Oregon water ways, engage in sensitive environmental projects, and construct fences to protect the environment and their property. These fences may restrict the public access to the beds and banks.  They pay thousands of dollars in fire protection fees and public activities allowed by this legislation put landowners at risk to fire.

The natural resources community believes that SB 1060 is a private property grab by the state.  It confuses the issues of navigability and floatage and brings together the worst of both.  Unfortunately, SB 1060 does not contain the same balance and collaboration that past efforts included.  Landowner representatives were not invited to participate in the work groups that drafted this legislation.

The natural resources community, including OSWA, believes that this legislation is too divisive, broad and damaging for a short 3 or 4 week session.  Another hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, February 9.  OSWA opposes this bill and signed onto a letter of opposition that was sent to Senate President Courtney by a wide range of natural resources organizations.

Forestland owner Gary Springer and conservation group director Sybil Ackerman have been appointed to the Oregon Board of Forestry. They replace board members Bill Hutchison and Larry Giustina, whose second terms will expire this spring.

Active in Oregon environmental causes since the 1990s, Ackerman is currently executive director of the Portland-based Lazar Foundation, which funds projects to protect the environment throughout the Pacific Northwest. Prior to her employment with the Lazar Foundation, she was legislative affairs director for the Oregon League of Conservation Voters. Her credentials also include positions with the National Wildlife Federation, the Sierra Club and the Audubon Society of Portland.

Ackerman has served on forest-related advisory committees including the Forestry Program for Oregon Revision Committee, State Forest Advisory Committee, and the State Forest Habitat Conservation Committee. She currently serves on Gov. Kulongoski's Nearshore and Environmental Justice task forces.

She holds an environmental law degree from Lewis and Clark Law School, a master's degree in environmental management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and a baccalaureate in environmental studies from Scripps College.

Springer is a staff forester with Starker Forests, Inc. of Corvallis and also handles policy and public outreach duties for the family-owned company. In addition, he owns and manages the 80-acre Chinquapin Point tree farm in Harlan. From the 1970s through the 1990s, he was a partner in Springer Logging, his family's contract logging business. Springer has served on a variety of forestry-related boards and committees, including the Forest Practices Advisory Committee and the Committee for Family Forestlands.

He currently serves on the Oregon Small Woodlands Association and Oregon Society of American Foresters executive committees, and on research advisory committees at the Oregon State University (OSU) College of Forestry. He was a member of the Oregon Forest Resources Institute board until his nomination to the Board of Forestry.

Springer holds a baccalaureate in general humanities from OSU.

Gov. Ted Kulongoski announced his nomination of Springer and Ackerman on Jan. 11, and the Oregon State Senate confirmed both appointees on Feb. 5.

Attorney Bill Hutchison of Portland has served two terms on the board. His second term will expire on June 30 of this year. Larry Giustina, managing partner of Eugene-based Giustina Land & Timber Co., will leave the board on April 30 when his second term expires.