Stimson Lumber Gives $200,000 to Fight Ballot Measure 49

So, when a lumber company, that specializes in cutting down trees, goes around cutting down trees, the state makes them plant more trees. ... or at least the state tells them to plant the trees. Maybe it's a strong suggestion in the eyes of the lumber companies. I'm not too sure.

Regardless. Planting a ton of trees cuts into the bottom line when Clear Cutting is your bread and butter. "Dem trees gotta come down! So I's can buy my pick up truck!"

But, why bother to spend a crap load of money planting trees when you can claim that state and county regulations force you to have to plant trees, cutting into your revenue, when you can simply file a claim and get permission to put up a bunch of houses? Sounds like a money maker to me.

In the event we run out of trees or some other source of wood out paces Oregon lumber for a cheaper price, it's always good to have a back up plan to cut every damn tree and throw up row after row of subdivisions.

The last thing a lumber guy wants is to be limited in making a profit when you have thousands of acres that still have resources that can be wrung dry out of the land. "good to the last drop... then you throw up condos and make a crap load of money! YEEEEE HAWWW!"

Stimson Lumber donates $200,000 to fight Measure 49
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
ERIC MORTENSON
The Oregonian Staff

Portland-based Stimson Lumber Co., which has filed the state's largest Measure 37 development claims, has contributed $200,000 to a campaign to defeat Measure 49, which would limit development allowed under the 2004 property rights initiative.

Contributions by Stimson and other timber companies, reported Monday under the state's campaign finance law, pushed Oregonians in Action to $1.15 million in contributions.

Oregonians in Action, based in Tigard, sponsored Measure 37 three years ago and opposes Measure 49, which is on the November ballot. The group reported spending $994,972 on the campaign through Monday.

Stimson's contribution is the largest single donation Oregonians in Action has reported in the current campaign.

"This is consistent with Stimson's very public plans to convert forests into subdivisions," said Shelly Strom, Yes on 49 spokeswoman. "Of course they are contributing to the campaign; they stand to make a lot of money on these subdivisions."

Yes on 49 said a search of records in six counties shows that Stimson has filed claims totaling 59,428 acres. Claims the company has filed with the state Department of Land Conservation and Development affect a total of 109,875 acres, according to Yes on 49.

Stimson CEO Andrew Miller called those figures "preposterous." He said Stimson's Measure 37 claims involve about 57,000 acres. Either figure is the state's largest in terms of acreage.
"They've got us painted as if we're going to urbanize the Coast Range," Miller said. Stimson has pursued only one development, Miller said: the 1,200-acre Iowa Hill project in Washington County, where the company hopes to build 40 homes.

The other claims ask the counties to roll back land-use regulations involving income requirements and minimum lot sizes, but Miller said those are "placeholder" claims intended to give the company options in the future. Stimson has no plans to develop its timber holdings, he said. "We know what it's worth growing trees; we'd be fools to do anything else with it."

Measure 37 allowed property owners to seek compensation if land-use rules imposed after they bought the property restricted its use and reduced its value. That prompted about 7,500 claims for subdivisions and industrial and commercial development, most of it on rural farm and forest land.

Supporters of Measure 49, referred to voters by the 2007 Legislature, say it would allow claimants to build one to three home sites on a fast-track basis or four to 10 home sites if they can prove that land-use regulations devalued the property. The measure prohibits industrial and commercial development.

Both sides have reported more than $1 million in contributions. Yes on 49 listed $2.78 million in contributions and $1.49 million in spending through Monday.

Seneca Jones Timber of Eugene; Swanson Group of Glendale, a wood products company; and A-dec Inc., a Newberg company that makes dental office equipment, have each contributed $100,000 to Oregonians in Action. Hire Calling, a Utah-based employment agency, also contributed $100,000.

Other wood products firms listed as contributors include Freres Lumber, C&D Lumber, Murphy Hardwood Plywood Division, South Coast Lumber Co. and Cascade Timber Consulting.

Read the full article at the Oregonian
Eric Mortenson; 503-294-7636; ericmortenson@news.oregonian.com. For environment news, go to http://blog.oregonlive.com/pdxgreen