OR Dept. of Forestry release – SALEM, Ore.—Forest Patrol Assessments are charged to public and private landowners to help fund wildfire suppression efforts by the Oregon Department of Forestry. The associated costs due to required increases in staffing and resources were deferred in the 2021–23 biennium by a one-time offset of $15 million for both public and private landowners. ODF’s 2023–25 budget, as approved by the state legislature, does not include the offset. The Labor Day wildfires of 2020 demonstrated the state’s vulnerability to catastrophic wildfires. In response, the 2021 Legislature passed Senate Bill 762 adding wildfire response capacity and preparedness programs to benefit Oregonians. Senate Bill 762 directed the Oregon Department of Forestry to create new programs and increase capacity for adequate protection of public and private forestland and rangeland. The cost for increased capacity is shared between public and private landowners through Forest Patrol Assessments. Private landowner rates are provided to county tax assessors July 1 for inclusion in property tax rolls. Landowners pay a per-acre assessment to help fund wildfire suppression. To alleviate the initial financial increase to forest patrol assessments, SB 762, passed by the 2021 Legislature, included a one-time offset in the amount of $15 million. This offset was intended to mitigate a sharp increase from previous landowner rates to the new rates that were created by expansion of wildfire capacity in SB 762. An extension of the landowner offset was considered during the 2023 legislative session. However, the extension ultimately did not make it into ODF’s budget. As a result, the fiscal-year 2024 Forest Patrol Assessments will be provided to county assessors for inclusion in county property tax rolls. Those assessments include the increased costs for fire protection required by law, but without the one-time financial assistance for landowners provided in the 2021–23 biennium. In response, Senator Steiner sent a letter to Republican legislative leadership stating her commitment to seeking solutions to this cost burden for the 2024 legislative session. Click here for that letter. In it, Senator Steiner writes: “After consulting with partners and interests closely involved with these issues, we have committed to convening a workgroup to propose revisions in the assessment and harvest tax structure to better address the cost of grazing and forest fire protection in ways that consider proportionate contributions from various stakeholders.” This legislative workgroup convened by Senator Steiner, in coordination with the Governor’s Office, will work to bring potential landowner rate relief and concepts to restructure wildfire funding to the 2024 Legislature. If landowner offsets are again funded by the 2024 Legislature, it will be applied to fiscal year 2025 Forest Patrol Assessments, reducing the per-acre charge in the second year of the biennium. An updated funding structure is necessary to address the increasing severity of Oregon’s wildfires. ODF protects approximately 16.2 million acres of public and private forestland and rangeland, and hotter and dryer climate conditions require ever-increasing demands on wildfire firefighting resources.
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