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<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>Oregon Department of
Forestry<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNoSpacing><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>NEWS RELEASE<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><a name="OLE_LINK1"></a><a name="OLE_LINK2"><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%'>Oregon to dedicate the new Gilchrist
State Forest on June 11<o:p></o:p></span></b></a></p>
<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>June 1, 2010<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Contact: Kevin Weeks,
(503) 945-7427, or Dan Postrel, (503) 945-7420<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The Oregon Department of
Forestry will dedicate the Gilchrist State Forest in central Oregon – the
first new state-owned forest created in almost 70 years – during a June
11 ceremony featuring Governor Ted Kulongoski.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The 43,000-acre forest is
located about 45 miles south of Bend. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNoSpacing><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class=MsoNoSpacing><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>”</span></i><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Working forests are a part of Oregon’s legacy
– and a part of our future,” Kulongoski said. “Creation of
this new state forest is a wise investment, ensuring that these lands will
provide many benefits for future generations of Oregonians.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The Gilchrist lands
represent one of the last large blocks of forestland in central Oregon, and
without public ownership would likely have been sold as many small parcels,
resulting in fragmented wildlife habitat, lost public access, increased
wildfire problems, and reduced potential to raise revenue for local government
through sustainable timber harvest, carbon credits or other sources.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The state purchased the
land last March, with $15 million in bonds approved by the 2009 legislature
with Kulongoski’s support. The bonds will be repaid over 20 years using
proceeds from the Oregon Lottery. State officials had initially hoped to buy an
additional 25,000 acres immediately to the east, but public financing is not
currently available. The Oregon Department of Forestry is working with a non-profit
group – The Conservation Fund – which is purchasing those lands to
hold until future state purchases are possible.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Governor Kulongoski is
scheduled to be the primary speaker at the event, which will include State
Forester Marvin Brown, Cal Mukumoto of the Oregon Board of Forestry, Klamath
County Commissioner Al Switzer and Mark Elsbree from The Conservation Fund. The
dedication ceremony is scheduled to begin at 1:00 pm in a forested area east of
downtown Gilchrist. The event site is open to the public.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The forest was purchased
from Fidelity National Timber Resources, Inc., which had owned it since 2006.
The new Gilchrist State Forest was part of larger forest holdings owned by the
Gilchrist Timber Company for most of the 20th century. The community of
Gilchrist was a “company town,” the site of the company mill and
home to many of its workers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The Gilchrist family sold
the property and mill in 1991 to Crown Pacific, which liquidated the forest to
pay debt and eventually entered bankruptcy in 2003. The land, which once
supported expanses of large Ponderosa pine trees, was heavily harvested in the
early 1990s, following the Gilchrist Timber Company sale. As required by the
Oregon Forest Practices Act, the area was reforested with new seedlings that will
form the basis of a growing forest that provides some public benefits today,
and that in several decades will also produce timber harvests to help support
local government services for Klamath County residents. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Prior to the Gilchrist
forest purchase, the last major forestland acquisition by the state was the Sun
Pass State Forest, just south of Crater Lake, acquired between 1943 and 1948.
The Sun Pass since has been managed to produce a mix of younger forests and
stately older Ponderosa pine, providing a rich range of benefits.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The Oregon Department of
Forestry provides a diverse range of services to Oregon’s public,
including forestry landowner assistance and rules providing natural resource
protection on 12 million acres of private and state-owned forest, management of
848,000 acres of State Forests and fire protection on 15.8 million acres of
forest land, most of it privately owned.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%'>###<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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