The OSU Trustees, president Murthy, and the entire administration was once again called to task for failing to respond to concerns about their stewardship of the McDonald-Dunn Forests at their October 25th, 2024 meeting. Eight citizens spoke passionately about OSU’s destruction of older forests. They called for the trustees to demonstrate leadership in reforming the outdated forestry practices of the dean and his forest managers.
As I delivered my speech, a supporter held up posterboards with photos showing the destruction caused by logging and slash-burning in these public forests.
This graph, which I showed to OSU leaders, shows the AVERAGE age of trees cut in the McDonald-Dunn Forests over the past six years. The average for the six-year period was 83 years of age. This is more than TWICE the industry average rotation (cutting age). I used the College’s own “harvest data” and looked at each commercial harvest in the McDonald-Dunn to verify the age class and other logging details.
There is absolutely NO research or educational justification for OSU to be cutting these older public forests!
One wonders how the trustees can justify this wanton destruction of public lands under their stewardship. As the highest (and only) oversight body of this public university, they are ultimately responsible for stewarding these public forests. Despite the scores of emails I’ve sent them and the testimony from dozens of thoughtful citizens over the past 5+ years , none of them have ever bothered to ask a single question. Do any of them honestly believe they are providing the “transparency and public accountability” called for by state law?
What recourse do Oregonians have when the OSU Board of Trustees fails to demonstrate even the most basic stewardship for these public forests? One could argue their indifference serves the university’s corporate donors.