Grants Pass, Ore. — The Oregon Department of Forestry, or ODF, is looking at the way it classifies its forest land and private lots, and making any changes that are necessary. One of many meetings was held at the Josephine county ODF headquarters on Tuesday.
“Forest land classification is taking all of the acres that ODF manages, and re-looking at it to make sure it’s classified properly as timber, grazing, or exempt when it comes to actually paying a forest assessment fee,” ODF Spokesperson Melissa Cano said.
Every rural land owner pays ODF for fire protection, but as property lines or land use changes, Cano noted the fees do as well, meaning some people may not be paying the right rates.
“So many new properties have been built, or sometimes land changes from an irrigated property to a timberland, we want to make sure we keep up to date with all those changes, so that people aren’t paying too high or too low of a rate,” Cano said.
According to Cano, the new records also help firefighters when they’re sent out to a fire.
“Fire season is right around the corner, so we want to make sure we’re as prepped and ready to go,” Cano said.
The changes are approved by a board separate from ODF, selected in both Jackson and Josephine counties. If the maps don’t show a clear enough image, Google is consulted for clarification. When the changes are made, land owners will be notified. Cano expects that to be by the end of the year.
“We’re going to have a number of community meetings, all of these working sessions are open to the public,” Cano said. “At the end of the day, if we end up sending home a classification to someone and they’re like, ‘Hey, this doesn’t look right,’ they can always give us a phone call and we’re happy to send someone down there to ground truth it, boots on the ground, let’s walk through your land and look.”
Cano said letters will be sent out only to the land owners whose rates will change. The current charges are around a dollar per acre for grazing land, and around $2.00 per acre for timber land.
Dates of public meetings regarding the changes will be announced later this year. NBC5 News will continue to follow this story.
© 2024 KOBI-TV NBC5. All rights reserved unless otherwise stated.