Oregon Dept. of State Lands

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News Release

State Land Board To Meet In Executive Session On Monday, June 16 -06/13/25

SALEM, Ore. – The State Land Board will meet virtually in executive session on Monday, June 16 at 11:15 a.m. to consider employment of the Department of State Lands Director, as authorized by ORS 192.660(2)(a).

 

During a future meeting open to the public, the Land Board will consider appointing a Director and accept comment. This meeting will be scheduled and noticed at a later date.
 

About the State Land Board and the Department of State Lands: The State Land Board consists of Governor Tina Kotek, Secretary of State Tobias Read, and State Treasurer Elizabeth Steiner. Established by the Oregon Constitution in 1859, the Land Board oversees the state’s Common School Fund. The Department of State Lands is the Land Board’s administrative agency, managing the lands and resources that help fund Oregon’s public schools and protecting the state’s waterways and wetlands for the many benefits they provide.

 

State Land Board To Meet In Executive Session On Monday, June 9 -06/06/25

SALEM, Ore. – The State Land Board will meet virtually in executive session on Monday, June 9 at 11:30 a.m. to consider employment of the Department of State Lands Director, as authorized by ORS 192.660(2)(a).

The Land Board will consider appointing a Director and accept comment during its scheduled meeting on Tuesday, June 10. The June 10 meeting agenda and comment information is available on DSL’s website here. Comment on the Director appointment will be accepted up until the Land Board begins deliberations on the topic, which is Item 10 on the agenda.

About the State Land Board and the Department of State Lands: The State Land Board consists of Governor Tina Kotek, Secretary of State Tobias Read, and State Treasurer Elizabeth Steiner. Established by the Oregon Constitution in 1859, the Land Board oversees the state’s Common School Fund. The Department of State Lands is the Land Board’s administrative agency, managing the lands and resources that help fund Oregon’s public schools and protecting the state’s waterways and wetlands for the many benefits they provide.

State Land Board To Meet June 10 In North Bend -06/04/25

Agenda items include rulemaking for undersea cables, land acquisition in Deschutes County, and appointment of the DSL Director

 

SALEM, Ore. – The State Land Board will meet on Tuesday, June 10 at 11:00 a.m. at the Shutter Creek Facility in North Bend.

 

Agenda items the Land Board will consider include:

  • Appoint the Oregon Department of State Lands Director.
    In December 2024, Director Vicki L. Walker formally notified the Land Board of her intent to retire June 30, 2025. By statute, the Land Board is responsible for appointing the Department director.
     
  • Begin rulemaking for undersea cables in Oregon’s territorial sea.
    Administrative rules in OAR 141-083 govern easements for undersea cables on state-owned submerged and submersible land. Rulemaking is needed to conform with updates to Oregon’s Territorial Sea Plan, as well as improve the application process. Rulemaking may also be needed for establishing fees in rule, dependent on the outcome of legislative action in Senate Bill 793 A.
     
  • Acquire an 80-acre parcel of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land in La Pine.
    The Department is seeking to acquire an 80-acre property from the BLM, at no cost, for in-lieu lands still owed to the State of Oregon. The property is undeveloped forested land zoned for high-density residential in Deschutes County.
     
  • Authorize a permanent easement on an existing freeway overpass in Portland’s Rose Quarter.
    The Oregon Department of Transportation is seeking a permanent easement to maintain the existing freeway overpass crossing the Willamette River in Multnomah County.
     
  • Authorize the sale of and release of 274 acres of subsurface rights currently owned by the Department of Administrative Services (DAS) in Morrow County.
    DAS is seeking to sell a parcel of subsurface mineral and geothermal rights to the current surface owner Rowan Percheron, LLC.

The Land Board will also hear an update on bills the Department is tracking in the 2025 legislative session, as well as a guest presentation from the Department of Geology and Mineral Industries on geologic carbon sequestration.

 

Meeting Details and Agenda

Tuesday, June 10, 2025, at 11:00 a.m.

Shutter Creek Facility

Administration Building – Conference Room

95200 Shutters Landing Ln, North Bend, OR 97459

 

The full meeting agenda and materials are available on the DSL website. The meeting will be livestreamed to the DSL YouTube channel.

The public may submit written testimony or sign up to provide spoken testimony (in person, by video, or phone) during the meeting. Advanced sign-up is required, and the deadline is 10 a.m. on Monday, June 9.

 

If you need assistance to participate in this meeting due to a disability, please contact Arin Smith at 503-986-5224 or arin.n.smith@dsl.oregon.gov at least two working days prior to the meeting.

 

Visitors are not permitted to bring backpacks, bags, or large purses into the building prior to, during, or following Land Board meetings. Purses, medical bags, and diaper bags are permitted, but may be subject to inspection by the Oregon State Police.

 

About the State Land Board and the Department of State Lands: The State Land Board consists of Governor Tina Kotek, Secretary of State Tobias Read, and State Treasurer Elizabeth Steiner. Established by the Oregon Constitution in 1859, the Land Board oversees the state’s Common School Fund. The Department of State Lands is the Land Board’s administrative agency, managing the lands and resources that help fund Oregon’s public schools and protecting the state’s waterways and wetlands for the many benefits they provide.

 

 

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www.oregon.gov/dsl

UPDATED: State Secures Habitat Conservation Plan, Permits For The Elliott State Research Forest -05/28/25

UPDATED at 4:42 p.m. on 5/28/25: Release updated with NOAA Fisheries approval of the research forest habitat conservation plan and issuance of a incidental take permit for threatened Oregon Coast coho salmon. 

 

 


State Secures Habitat Conservation Plan, Permits for the Elliott State Research Forest

The HCP is Oregon’s first for public forest lands, and key as research forest operations begin
 

SALEM, Ore. – Oregon’s Elliott State Research Forest has achieved another major milestone and first for Oregon.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries today announced approval of the habitat conservation plan for the research forest and issuance of Endangered Species Act permits for implementing the plan over the next 80 years.

The HCP is the state’s first for public forest lands, and key as the Elliott begins actively operating in 2025 as Oregon’s first state research forest.

“Oregon’s Elliott State Research Forest is continuing to lead the way,” said Governor Tina Kotek. “With this habitat conservation plan comes certainty that innovative research, economic and environmental benefits, and wildlife protection can all be achieved on the Elliott for decades to come.”

 

"The habitat conservation plan supports our state partners in innovative forest research and timber production compatible with species conservation,” said Bridget Fahey, Acting Regional Director for the Pacific Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “We're looking forward to working with the state for another 80 years of conservation."
 

HCPs ensure compliance with the federal Endangered Species Act, mapping out both specific management activities that may impact protected species and conservation commitments that protect those species and their habitat over time. Timber harvest and habitat restoration projects are among the activities covered by the approved HCP, which supports operation of the Elliott as a working research forest.
 

A 2012 lawsuit over protected species halted timber harvest on the Elliott, and ultimately led to the State Land Board’s vision of a publicly owned research forest that would contribute multiple benefits to Oregon.
 

 “The future of the Elliott has always been about Oregonians coming together to chart a course that represents what’s best about our state – fulfilling our obligations to school kids, protecting public lands, research that benefits our rural communities, and providing predictable access to timber off this forest. This HCP is foundational to that effort, and its approval is a vote of confidence from our federal partners,” said Secretary of State Tobias Read.
 

The Department of State Lands, guided by a public Elliott State Research Forest Board of Directors, will now oversee the 83,000-acre Elliott as a national center for forest science and management. In October 2024, the State Land Board approved the initial research forest management plan, which calls for benefits that include protecting and restoring habitat, supporting local economies by resuming timber harvest, enhancing opportunities for recreation and education, and promoting opportunities for Indigenous forest stewardship and research.
 

As a research forest, the Elliott will advance a business model and social, economic, and ecological research of national and international relevance to how forest management can support many public benefits. Integrating an HCP and voluntary carbon project on public land, as the research forest will, also represents a first for the nation.

Treasurer Elizabeth Steiner said, “the Elliot State Research Forest embodies the values that make Oregon unique: people working together to safeguard our children’s future and the forests that we depend on. The habitat conservation plan shows what we can do when we work together to advance these values.”

DSL is currently finalizing the initial Elliott operations plan, which outlines timber harvest, restoration projects, road maintenance, and other anticipated activities over the next two years. The operations plan implements the approved forest management plan and includes activities allowed under the HCP. The permit issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service covers incidental take of the threatened marbled murrelet and northern spotted owl. The permit issued by NOAA Fisheries covers incidental take of threatened Oregon Coast coho salmon.

 

 

Keith Tymchuk, who serves as chair of the Elliott State Research Forest Board of Directors, said ongoing collaboration by many has been essential to the success of the research forest.
 

“The Elliott is a treasure, and for over seven years now, Oregonians representing many different walks of life have been working to craft a future that fits it. The HCP has always been a huge part of completing our move past the gridlock and standing up the transformation to a research forest,” Tymchuk said. “I’d like to thank Gov. Kotek and the Land Board, Director Walker, ESRF Manager Goodding and the terrific DSL staff, and our collaborative partners from all circles—past and present—for their vision, dedication, persistence and hard work to get us to this point.”

 

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Video and photos of the Elliott State Research Forest are available here: https://oregonstatelands.app.box.com/s/vo4t0ww2nisjz98qfj3xfjulav3bzggd