Curry County commissioners on Thursday endorsed a proposal to establish a forestry department, though there’s no one to staff such a department currently.

The idea came from Director of Operations Ted Fitzgerald, who said Curry County has nearly 1,000 acres of “land that can be deemed to be forestry land one way or another.” Fitzgerald proposed turning that property into timberlands and adding to it in an effort to generate annual revenue for Curry County.

He pointed out that other coastal counties in Oregon have forests they’re able to profit from. This includes Coos County to the north.

“They have about 17,000 acres, I want to say, that generates them about $3 million of revenue every year that offsets their general fund needs,” Fitzgerald said. “We have a long way to go to get there, but this program needs to be started. You can’t ever get anywhere unless you start.”

The creation of a Curry County Forestry Department comes as voters are expected to weigh in on a five-year property tax levy of $2.23 per $1,000 of assessed value. The proposed levy will appear on Oregon’s May 21 primary ballot and would fund a 24-7 sheriff’s patrol.

With the average assessed value of property in Curry County coming in at $170,510.52, “the average taxpayer” can expect to pay $31.69 more per month if the levy passes.

Commissioners have stated they’re hoping that commercial timber harvest on Oregon and California Railroad Revested Lands will be available again by the time the levy sunsets in 2029.

On Thursday, Fitzgerald pointed out that Curry County receives a percentage of sales from timber on federal land. But if it can establish its own forest it would get 100 percent of the profits generated because “it is owned by the county.”

The forestry department itself would be funded entirely from timber revenues and would not require contribution from the general fund, according to Fitzgerald’s staff report.

Calling such a move necessary for Curry County’s future, Commissioner Jay Trost said that the forestry department should fall under Fitzgerald’s purview until it can be staffed. Trost called for a projection of when the county would be able harvest the land Fitzgerald has in mind.

Fitzgerald said the county could contract out for the services it would need.

“At this point it’s just basically going to be organizing it and reallocating properties in to productive timberlands,” he said. “We have some land we can trade into timberland right now that is otherwise sitting there not generating revenue.”

According to Fitzgerald, liquidating its property would only generate 6 to 7 cents on the dollar for Curry County’s general fund.

“We have a couple of options,” he said. “We could turn that land into park land except a lot of these pieces don’t lend themselves to be used as parks or we can sell it…. I think this is a much better use of money for the taxpayers.”

In other matters, the Board of Commissioners approved the creation of a Road Advisory Committee. Consisting of two members each from the northern, central and southern parts of the county, the committee would review the road system and evaluate the county’s priorities.

The advisory committee would then make recommendations to the Board of Commissioners.

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