BAKER CITY, Ore. — A Portland area lawmaker who has a key role in writing the state’s budget visited Eastern Oregon in late October to learn about increases this year in fire protection fees, some totaling thousands of dollars, that many owners pay for their timber and grazing land east of the Cascades.

Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Steiner, co-chair of the Legislature’s Ways and Means Committee, also discussed with local landowners and elected officials the potential that lawmakers, when they convene on Feb. 5, 2024, can ease that financial burden by boosting the budget for the Oregon Department of Forestry.

“These increases are real, and they’re a big challenge for landowners,” Steiner said.

The hikes in assessments, which vary depending on the area and whether the property is designated as timber or grazing land, ranged from 32% to 79%. The new rates were reflected in property tax payments that were mailed in late October.

According to ODF statistics, the agency provides fire protection to almost 2 million acres in Northeast Oregon — 1.09 million acres of grazing land and 848,000 acres of timber ground.

Steiner was en route from Boise, Idaho, to Ontario, where she met with several county commissioners and landowners from Eastern Oregon.

During her visit, Steiner traveled with Mark Bennett, a former Baker County commissioner and current chair of the state’s Wildfire Programs Advisory Council, to tour affected properties in Baker County.

Steiner stayed overnight with Bennett and his wife, Patti, at their ranch near Unity.

Although Steiner emphasized that she can’t guarantee what lawmakers will do this winter, she believes there is a “strong probability” they will take action to reduce the fire assessment rates, saying that is “the right thing to do.”

“The cost needs to be spread more equitably,” Steiner said.

Some officials who met with Steiner during her Eastern Oregon visit said they’re optimistic that this year’s large rate hikes — which showed up on property tax bills mailed over the past couple weeks — will be a one-year spike.

“I’m really hoping we can figure out some fix in the short session,” said Jim Hamsher, a Grant County commissioner.

Bennett agreed.

“I’m really appreciative of Sen. Steiner taking this on,” Bennett said. “I think there’s a high probability of success.”

However, Bennett said he’s not convinced the Oregon Board of Forestry, which sets the fire protection rates, will trim rates to prior years’ levels.

But he expects to see some relief for landowners.

Todd Nash, a Wallowa County commissioner who also met with Steiner while she was in Eastern Oregon, said the lawmaker’s interest in the situation is a “bright spot.”

“I’m extremely optimistic,” Nash said. “Sen. Steiner is working in good faith on this.”

Nash said he believes Steiner has a productive working relationship with some of her Republican colleagues, including Sen. Lynn Findley, R-Vale, who also participated in discussions with Steiner and others about the fire protection rates.

Why rates increased

Bennett, who owns both grazing and forest property for which he pays ODF fees for fire protection, expressed his concern in the spring of 2023 that rates could rise substantially if the Legislature didn’t act.

Specifically, Bennett testified before the Ways and Means Committee in April advocating for a $15 million “offset” that ODF included in its requested budget.

That money was included in the previous budget for the previous biennium, which ended June 30, 2023.

The $15 million offset was part of Senate Bill 762, which the Legislature passed in 2021. The bill was designed, among other things, to augment ODF’s firefighting capacity by hiring about 85 new employees, including about 35 seasonal firefighters, as well as buying trucks and other equipment.

The $15 million from the state’s general fund was intended to defray some of those expenses rather than passing on most or all of it to property owners through the yearly assessment, Bennett said.

But the $15 million offset wasn’t part of Gov. Tina Kotek’s proposed budget for the new biennium. Nor was it in the final budget the Legislature approved before it adjourned June 25.

Assessor expects questions

Morrow County assessor Mike Gorman said he anticipates numerous questions — and complaints — from landowners when they peruse their property tax statements and see the increase on the line for fire protection.

Gorman said ODF sent a letter to him and to other county assessors in early October, noting that fire protection rates “experienced a large increase” this year.

“When there’s an increase like this, at times our office can get pretty busy with those complaints,” Gorman said.

Parts of Morrow County are in ODF’s Central Oregon district and parts in the Eastern Oregon district. Rates are higher in Central Oregon.

ODF rates typically rise by 3% to 7% per year, and rates reflect the agency’s actual cost to fight fires and otherwise protect property, said Tim Holschbach, ODF’s deputy chief of policy planning.

Occasionally, after a fire season with relatively few large blazes and a commensurately below average firefighting tab, assessment rates can drop, he said.

This year’s larger-than-usual increase is due largely to the absence of the $15 million offset that was in the previous biennial budget, Holschbach said.

Effects of higher rates

Bennett is concerned that the rising cost of fire protection could force some landowners to try to wring every dollar they can from their property to pay the bill — by grazing more cattle for longer periods, for instance, or logging merchantable trees earlier than the owner intended.

“It’s a disincentive for good stewardship,” he said.

Bennett said the fire protection fee for one 160-parcel that’s part of his ranch increased from $274 last year to $363 this year. That’s for a formerly forested parcel that has been burned twice by wildfires in the past 20 years. The parcel isn’t capable of producing anything of value now, Bennett said.

Nash said that in some cases, landowners don’t have the option of changing how they manage their property to try to extract more money and offset the increase in protection costs.

“It’s a huge concern, especially when you have places that are unproductive lands that don’t generate any income,” he said.

Another factor is the decline of the timber industry in Eastern Oregon, where just a handful of sawmills remain and the number of loggers and log truck owners has plummeted over the past 30 years or so.

That trend has boosted the costs of logging, Nash said, potentially making it unprofitable for landowners to log even when they have timber ready to harvest.

State officials acknowledge the situation.

In the governor’s proposed budget for the 2023-25 biennium, the section on the ODF fire protection division includes this assessment: “Landowners with the lowest production timber lands are now paying some of the highest assessments for base protection due to reduced infrastructure and increasing fire season severity.”

Nash contends that the Oregon Board of Forestry shouldn’t have the authority to set fire protection rates. Nash believes the Legislature should do so, since lawmakers are elected rather than appointed as with the forestry board members.

Opting out of fire protection isn’t a legal option, Holschbach said.

Oregon law requires that owners of land designated as forestland (which, despite the name, also includes rangeland used for grazing even if it lacks timber) either pay for fire protection through ODF or a district, or have a fire protection plan approved by the Board of Forestry.

Holschbach said no individual landowner has sought an individual fire protection plan. Instead, landowners either pay ODF fees or they pay a fire protection district.

Bennett said some property owners pay both, while others pay their local district but aren’t under ODF protection. The local district rates typically are much lower than ODF charges, he said.

Others pay a local district only, he said. Those rates typically are much lower than the ODF charges, Bennett said.

As an example, he said the fee for the Ironside Fire Protection District east of Unity is $50 per parcel and 3 cents per acre, compared with ODF’s rate this year of 81 cents per acre.

For that reason, Bennett said he thinks some landowners might get together and try to form a rangeland fire protection association and, once the association has an approved fire protection plan with ODF, those landowners would opt out of ODF protection and realize a cost savings.

“These increases are real, and they’re a big challenge for landowners.” — Oregon State Sen. Elizabeth Steiner, D-Beaverton, co-chair, Ways and Means Committee, talking about fire protection fees charged by the Oregon Department of Forestry.

Rising rates Oregon Department of Forestry fire protection rates increased by 32% to 79% in Northeast Oregon and Central Oregon for 2023. There are separate rates for timber and grazing land.

Oregon Department of Forestry fire protection rates increased by 32% to 79% in Northeast Oregon and Central Oregon for 2023.

There are separate rates for timber and grazing land.

Northeast Oregon timberland

• 2023: $2.37 per acre (32% rise)

• 2022: $1.80 per acre

Northeast Oregon grazing land

• 2023: 80.7 cents per acre (52% rise)

• 2022: 53.1 cents per acre

Central Oregon timberland

• 2023: $3.10 per acre (35% rise)

• 2022: $2.29 per acre

Central Oregon grazing land

• 2023: $1.45 per acre (79% rise)

• 2022: 81.1 cents per acre

“These increases are real, and they’re a big challenge for landowners.”

— Oregon State Sen. Elizabeth Steiner, D-Beaverton, co-chair, Ways and Means Committee, talking about fire protection fees charged by the Oregon Department of Forestry