WFPA - Washington Forest Protection Association

Forest fire season is upon us again, and this year is likely not going to be pretty. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is already preparing, huge fires are burning in Southern California and Colorado, and the Washington Department of Natural Resources just sued a construction company it said caused the Taylor Bridge wildfire that burned 23,000 acres in Central Washington last summer.

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As we pointed out last month, Weyerhaeuser is doing very well. Earnings for the first quarter of 2013 were up 30 percent from last year, and the company's profit of $144 million was more than three times higher than its profit in the first quarter of 2013.

Now we're starting to see that success translate in local communities.

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After months of anticipation, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden last week released his proposal to increase the federal timber harvest in Oregon. Wyden's proposal only covers his home state, but Oregon has been the testing ground for other plans before and if it's approved, Wyden's plan could be replicated in some form in other states.

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These are not good times for Josephine County in Southwest Oregon. With little federal timber harvest, the rural county is nearly bankrupt and jobs are scarce. In 1975, Josephine and neighboring Jackson County had 22 sawmills. Last month, the one sawmill remaining - called Rough & Ready - closed for good.

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All eyes are on Sen. Ron Wyden. The Oregon Democrat just took over as the chair of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resouces Committee, which means he's in the unique position of having both the federal power and the local experience to finally approve a plan to make a meaningful increase in the federal timber harvest and end decades of mismanagment of our federal forests.

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Over the course of 24 hours this week, two forest land sales were announced that will protect Washington timberland from widespread development.

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Just as a new biography of its founder is published, Weyerhaeuser is riding high. Around its first-quarter earnings call last week, positive notices of the company have been published in Forbes, the Financial Times, Seattle Times and Motley Fool, among many other publications.

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The headline out of Lane County, Ore., over the weekend was cheerful: "Resurgence in building boosts Lane County wood products industry." The story in the Eugene Register-Guard, describing an upswing in the timber market, was similar to an article in the Wall Street Journal in February that also focused on Lane County, "Logging Towns Are on a Roll."

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It's good to see political leaders from the West show some leadership on the importance of our rural communities and rural economies, many of which are dependent on a healthy timber harvest.

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Bill Driscoll, the great grandson of Weyerhaeuser founder Frederick Weyerhaeuser, may have lost his race for Congress in Washington's 6th District last fall. But the debates started in that race aren't over.

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