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OCR for page 160
FOREST MANAGEMENTAND RURAL
COMMUN/T/ES /N THE PAC/F/C NORTHWEST
Rural economies in the Pacific Northwest historically have derived a
substantial share of their economic base from natural-resource-based
industries, including timber, agriculture, and mining. As with many
similar rural economies across the country, they have had trouble
adjusting to new circumstances when economic or policy changes affect
the availability of the resources that have beenimportantto them. Some
5.6 minion Pacific Northwest residents live in the 129 counties classified
as nonmetropolitan by the 1990 U.S. Census; that is 46% of the total
population ant! 85% of the 151 counties in the region. Analyses in this
chapter are basecE on county-level data unless otherwise noted. Forests
and forest-based industries have been important to many of these
nonmetropolitan counties in the region.
RURAL ECONOMIC WELL BE/NO
AND NATURA! -RESOURCE /NDUSTR/ES
Rural poverty is not unique to the Pacific Northwest. Throughout Me
United States, nonmetropolitan areas almost always have higher
poverty levels than do metropolitan areas (RSS 1993~. And although
nonmetropolitan areas in the Pacific Northwest have lower incomes and
higher poverty rates relative to metropolitan counties, they have fared
well compared with persistent poverty areas of the South, Southwest,
760
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Forest Management and Rura/ Communities
.
767
Alaska, and the Southern Highlands. Of the 540 U.S. counties that have
had poverty levels of 20% or more since 1960, only one of those counties
is in the Pacific Northwest (Beale 1993~.
In 1990, the median nonmetropolitan family income in the Pacific
Northwest was $23,159 compared with $29,481 for metropolitan
counties (U.S. Bureau of the Census 1990~. Only one other
nonmetropolitan region—northern New England—had a higher median
family income ($26,051) than the nonmetropolitan counties of the Pacific
Northwest. In contrast, the Upper Great Lakes nonmetropolitan family
median income was $20,867, and the median income in the Mississippi
Delta was $15,532.
Those income figures are mirrored by poverty data. In 1990,15.3% of
the nonmetropolitan Pacific Northwest population livecE in poverty
while 12.2 % of the metropolitan population did (U.S. Bureau of the
Census 1990~. in comparison, nonmetropolitan northern New England
had a poverty rate of 12%, the Northern Plains had 17.3%, the Southern
Coastal Plain had 26.4%, and the Mississippi Delta had 34.3%. The
reasons for lower income levels and higher poverty rates in rural areas
are complex and the subject of considerable stucly and debate (RSS
1993~. One explanation is rural America's dependence on volatile
natural-resource markets (Humphrey et al.1993~. Dependence on a few
industries for the majority of local economic activity also limits the
capacity of rural economies to absorb change.
Two long-term trencis in the manufacturing sector are important in
the Pacific Northwest rural economies. The first is increasing efficiency
in raw material use. The second is increaser! labor efficiency and
declining cLemand for labor, particularly among the ranks of blue-collar
workers, once the mainstay of rural economies. The increasingly
competitive worlct market places greater pressure on U.S. manufacturers
to continue such productivity increases (Galston and Baehler 1995~.
The lumber and wood products industry in the Pacific Northwest
illustrates the effect of the general trend in natural-resource industries.
Young and Newton (1980) conclude that there is a "long term trend
toward capital intensiveness in the wood products industry. The
substitution of capital for labor in production means the loss of jobs."
Hibbard and Elias (1993) report that in the late 1970s, 534 timber mills
produced ~ ~ billion board feet of lumber and employed almost 200,000
workers. In 198S, 453 mills (15% fewer) produced 16.5 billion board feet
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Pacific Northwest Forests
(a 50% increased with 160,000 workers (~% fewer). Between 1979 ancE
1988, 26,000 jobs in the lumber and wood products sector were elimi-
natecE as output rose (Anderson and Olson 1991~.
Although there has been a general trend toward increasing labor
productivity and consolidating operations across the region, it has not
been evenly distributed geographically. Cordray and Goetz (1994)
showed that the mills that closed in Lane County, Oregon, were in the
rural areas of the county; those that remained open were in the urban
areas. Those closures ancE similar relocation occurred during the late
1970s and the early 1980s as the timber industry sought to reduce its
manufacturing and transportation costs.
The estimates of job loss in Washington and Oregon owing to
restrictions on federal harvest range from a low of 12,000 jobs (Anderson
and Olson 1991) to a high of 147,000 jobs (Beuter 1990~. The differences
are the result of differing assumptions regarding the time involves] and
the change in timber supply. Sample and Le Master (1992) compared
those and other estimates using standardized assumptions ancE
estimated that employment decline would range between 11,858 ancE
32,015 jobs from 1991 to 2000. FEMAT (1993) concluded that relative to
1992 levels, its projections of timber harvests for the various options
being evaluated and its assessment of regional employment per unit of
harvested timber "imply a range of job displacement from 21,200 to
32,000 jobs." That is fewer than 3,000 jobs a year in an economy that is
crowing bv more than 241,000 jobs a vear.
~ . _ ~ ,
Although relatively few jobs are being lost from restrictions on
harvesting, it is one of a long string of events that have reduced the
importance of the timber industry in the economy of the Pacific
Northwest. FEMAT concluded "timber-based employment is apt to be
declining under all options considered.... [T]he economy of the region
as a whole appears to be poised for continued growth. The job Toss issue
thus becomes more of a distributional nature, with rural communities
declining as more developed areas expand."
The next section looks more closely at the specific social and economic
outcomes of timber dependency in the Pacific Northwest.
TIMBER DEPENDENCY AND COMMUNITY WELL BE/NO
The committee was asked to "evaluate to the extent possible the nature
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763
of the economic and social costs and benefits associated with alternative
management practices." Although the question is easy to ask, it is hard
to answer. Few social-impact studies clearly tie social and economic
outcomes with specific forest-management practices, such as old-growth
harvest rates, the use of clearcu~ing as a harvest technique, or the
relative intensity of silvicultural practices. Several studies have
examined the relationship between the percentage of people employed
in timber producing and processing industries and indicators of welI-
being such as income, percent living in poverty, and housing conditions.
Counties with a higher proportion of such jobs relative to other counties
are referred to as timber dependent.
Heberiein et al. (1994) reviewed eight studies by Drielsma (1984), Elo
and Beale (1984), Kusel and Fortmann (1991), Bliss et al. (1992) Howze
et al. (1993), Tree and Cubbage (1993), Force et al. (1993), and Overdevest
and Green (1994) and presented a meta-analysis of the relationship
between varying levels of timber dependence and measures of commu-
nity well being. The studies covered the Northeast, the Pacific North-
west, the Southeast, and the entire nation as a whole. Those studies
reported relationships between the proportion of timber jobs and 134
measures of socioeconomic well being.
The majority of the relationships between increasing timber depend-
ency as measured by the proportion of timber-related jobs and social
and economic well-being inclicated that well-being went up as timber
dependency went down. In most cases, timber dependency seemed to
hurt rather than help communities. This analysis found that timber-
dependent counties (and by extension, communities) tend to have
higher unemployment, lower income, more poverty, and lower levels of
education in comparison with counties with greater economic diversity.
They also have oIcler, lower-value housing that tends to be seasonal,
with fewer new houses. Timber-dependent counties tend to have lower
birth rates, higher death rates, greater age dependency, higher infant
mortality, and lower growth rates than other counties. Some evidence
points to poorer health care, fewer churches and more arrests.
A second set of research linked management variables with social and
economic well being. Ru~zitis and colleagues have been studying the
effects of wilderness preservation on community wellbeing. Wilderness
is a special designation of federal land in which management practice
is restricted to protect the area from timber cutting and motorized
vehicle access. Wilderness designation has been controversial because
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Pacific Northwest Forests
of its presumed negative effect on local timber harvesting jobs. Thus,
lower levels of economic well being might be expected In communities
located near wilderness areas. However, the available data show that
is not the case. Ru~zitis and lohansen (1991) found that the unemploy-
ment rate in wilderness counties (counties that either contain or are
adjacent to counties that contain federally managed wilderness areas)
is wed below the national average. Adjacency to protected lands like
wilderness actually serves as an attraction for new residents in an area.
Ru~zitis (1993) later found that wilderness counties showed population
growth of 24%, 6 times faster than the nonmetropolitan counties
nationally and twice as fast as nonmetropolitan counties in the west
(Ru~zitis 1993~. Wilderness attracts people of greater economic means
and thereby increases the level of socioeconomic indicators of wed
being. The migrants to these counties are more likely than long-term
residents to be college graduates and have professional occupations and
higher incomes. Four out of five in-migrants to wilderness counties
rated scenery, outdoor recreation, and environmental quality as the
most important reasons to move (Ru~zitis and Johansen 1991~. These
studies suggest that wilderness and amenity protection can have a
positive influence on certain measures of community well being,
although in-migration brings its own difficulties (Brown 1993~.
Whether county-level data represent communities has been ques-
tioned, because county data aggregate data from several communities.
Employment and income data, however, are maintained at the county
level, and economic regions are generally larger than individual villages,
towns, and cities. Also, timber dependency or forest-management
effects might be masked by using only 1980 and 1990 county-level
census data.
Force and co-workers (1993) examined community-level data over
time for a single community (Orofino, Idaho) to explore this concern.
They used government, media, industry, and personal sources from as
far back as 1920 and showed that social unrest, disasters, and nontimber
development have a more profound effect on community well being
than do changes in forest harvest and mill production. They also found
that the number of employees and churches decreased and the number
of arrests increased as harvesting on national forests increased. Those
findings are consistent with the results of other county-level, cross-
sectional analyses.
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765
Force et al. (1994) extended their analysis to four resource-ciepenclent
communities communities depenclenton timber,m~ning, fishing, and
tourism. They examined the joint effects of local resource production
(volumes of wood, minerals or fish, number of employees in resource-
dependent industries, and product values), local historical events, and
societal trends to determine the effects on four indicators of community
social change (size, structure, cohesion, and anomie)). In only 5 of 20
cases (in a matrix of four social change variables by five communities)
did resource production correlate with social indicators. When it clid,
the effect was sometimes an inverse relationship between resource
production and well being. in Prineville, (the timber-depenclent
community) resource production haci no effect on measures of commu-
nity size, structure, or cohesion beyond the effect of local historical
events and societal trencis. However, increasing numbers of divorces
(one indicator of anomies, did exhibit a direct relationship with
increased timber cutting independent of social trends ancE local
historical events. Thus, the in-depth statistical analysis of communities
over time also fits the general conclusion that timber depenclency is
associated with lower levels of certain measures of social and economic
well-being.
D/VERS/F/CAT/ON /N RURAL COMMUN/T/ES
OF THE PAC/F/C NORTHWEST
As industries such as agriculture, mining, and forestry decline as
employers and sources of income, economic diversification in rural
America has emerged as an urgent need. Diverse economic conditions
create cliverse opportunities ancl thus temper the effects of timber
industry fluctuations on local communities (Kuse] and Fortmann 1991~.
Over the past 20 years in the Pacific Northwest, rural communities
have become much less dependent on timber, mining, fishing, or
agriculture (Anderson and Olson, 1991~. They increasingly benefit from
a mix of extractive industries, light manufacturing, retirement, residen-
tial, service, ancE recreation sectors. In Oregon, for example, the lumber
The state of alienation resulting from the loss of social stability.
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Pacific Northwest Forests
and wood products industry now represents only 5% of total employ-
mentO Many of the communities In the Pacific Northwest started off as
timber towns, but have made a transition to an entirely different
economy (e.g., Leavenworth, Washington, and Sisters, Oregon). Many
more have seen their local economies diversify.
The signs of economic diversification evident in economic trend data
can be easily overlooked, because the logging culture permeates the
Pacific Northwest. Log trucks and melts are obvious, but small
businesses and home-based employment are not. Cultural symbols are
infused with Me logging culture: the community college in Aberdeen,
Washington, is called the "Home of the Chokers" (a choker is a common
piece of logging equipment), and the Libby, Montana, high-school teams
are the "Loggers." But self-employed service workers and transfer
payments of retirees are not visible, although their incomes contribute
significantly to diversifying rural communities. It is those dollars that
are making a significant contribution to rural communities as they
diversify and grow in new directions (Power 1992~.
Rural economic diversification in the Pacific Northwest is most
directly affected by the availability of transportation and proximity to
population centers. Rural northwestern communities lying along
Interstate 5—running from the Canadian border to Los Angeles—have
enjoyed substantial economic growth in recent years, in businesses
ranging from computer hardware and software to telephone-switching
centers and trucking companies. The National Association of Counties
(1993) notes that "Mill City is becoming a 'bedroom community' since
many who lost local jobs are traveling 15-50 miles to jobs." Regression
models showed a positive effect of commuting on household income net
of other factors (HeberIein et al. 1994~.
Kuse} and Fortmann (1991) note that "Iocally-based ecosystem
restoration is a growing phenomenon in California," with state support
expanding to provide local jobs. T~ocal tree-planting and restoration
organizations have grown up based on funding provided by such
programs; in some areas, they have become an important source of
employment. In addition to forest restoration, the development of
nontimber forest products has shown increasing influence in the
regional economy of the Pacific Northwest. In their 1991 study of
special forest products in the coastal part of the region, SchIosser et al.
(1991) found that "floral greens" has expanded to become an important
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Forest Management and Rura/ Communities
767
regional industry. Its 1989 value-added contribution to the gross
national product was estimated to be $80.5 million. Mushroom
harvesting and growing and berry harvesting are other examples of
diversification.
Many forest communities provide attractive sites for tourism and
recreation. As the importance of extractive industry declines, Pacific
Northwest communities are looking toward tourism as a way to bolster
their economies. A strong tourism industry could strengthen the local
economies by providing jobs with Tow, entry-level skill requirements,
potential for upward mobility, and local ownership and control (McCoo]
et al. 1995~. However, tourism by itself is not a substitute for timber
industry jobs. Annual incomes in tourism sector jobs often are inferior
to traditional rural employment, largely because tourism-related jobs are
seasonal (Power 1996~. in his comprehensive study of Montana's
tourism industry Barrett (1987) concluded that "in almost every aspect
measurable by census data, tourism employment is substantially
inferior—not only to employment throughout Montana's economy but
to comparable retail trade and personal services" (Barrett 1987~. Such
aspects include highly erratic seasonal employment, a high percentage
of women and young adults in the work force, and an average income
half of the Monta-
na average. Those As the importance of extractive
characteristics can
also be strengths,
however, for peo-
ple not seeking
full-time jobs or
those who are just
entering the work
force.
industry c/ec/ines, Pacific Northwest
communities are looking toward
tourism as a way to bolster their
economies....However, tourism by
itself is nor a substitute for timber
industry jobs.
Many rural communities have tried to entice new manufacturing
companies to their areas to replace lost manufacturing jobs, but many
communities are too small and too far from a metropolitan area to
attract large-scale industry. A substantial renumber of firms in rural areas
have payrolls of fewer than 100 employees (Castle 1 993), but those firms
account for the fastest-growing economic sector in nonmetropolitan
areas and in the nation's economy as a whole. Kuse] and Fortmann
(1991) note that because small businesses are location specific, they are
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Pacific Northwest Forests
most likely to contribute to community well being by using local
expertise and management and are more likely to invest in sustainable
management of local resources. New small businesses add to the
capacity of rural communities, but mill and forest jobs often add only
income.
Mobility and the information age are allowing more people to move
to rural communities. Cromartie (1994) notes the growing importance
of the private service sector in the West: "Much evidence indicates that
nonmetropolitan areas in the West are beginning to benefit from the
location of high paying, producer services." High-end producer
services, such as engineering, accounting, and legal services, which were
once found exclusively in metropolitan areas, are increasingly moving
to nonmetropolitan areas. Egan (1994) quotes a mill owner in Medford
Oregon "people moving to southern Oregon from California are not all
retirees, as the stereotype has it. They are bringing in jobs with them."
/N-MIGRATION
Although many nonmetropolitan counties lost population in the 1980s,
the elderly are an important group of in-migrants to rural communities.
The number of elderly in the United States has grown from 16.2 million
In 1960 to 31.1 million in 1990. For the past 3 decades, older people have
been leaving metropolitan areas for nonmetropolitan areas, and as the
nation ages, rural areas are most affected. Fuguitt and Beale (1993) show
that the North Pacific coast region had the third highest rate of in-
migration of elderly among any of 26 U.S. regions (the Southwest and
the Florida peninsula were first and second). Elderly who migrate from
predominantly urban areas to the Pacific Northwest have expectations
for a high quality of life, and access to amenity-based resources are a
pre-eminent value sought (Fuguitt and Beale 1993, Salazar et al. 1986~.
Tn-migration by retirees brings new income into rural economies in
the form of retirement income earned elsewhere. The growing ~mpor-
tance of transfer payments in nonmetropolitan areas is changing the
traditional dynamic of employment stability in the region and contribut-
ing to rural economic diversification. Over the 20 years from 1971 to
1991, noniabor income increased from 26% of total personal income to
34%. In-migration of retirees also leads to new jobs in the residential,
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Forest Management and Rura/ Communities
769
health-care, retail, and amenity-related sectors. They can infuse new
ideas and vitality into a community through volunteer work and
entrepreneurial activities. This population creates the demancL for high-
quality community infrastructure, such as hospitals, transportation, and
recreation activities.
In-m~gration also has negative effects. Property taxes are likely to go
up as sales increase and new houses are built with outside money. That
might recluce the housing available to some residents. The new jobs that
are created tend to be service oriented and low paying. There may also
be overload on roads, hospitals, fire departments, ancl sewage treatment
plants. Most dramatically, urban and nonurban values might clash,
especially where new residents are not sympathetic to the need for local
extractive industries (Price and Clay 1980; Blahna 1990~. The focus on
private property rights might take away common areas that are taken
for granted by rural residents (Brown 1993~.
POVERTYAND PLENTY ANGER AND HOPE
/N THE PAC/F/C NORTHWEST
The economy is growing, and rural communities are diversifying and
revitalizing as they rely less on an extractive economy. Nonetheless,
strong complaints come from the rural areas of the Pacific Northwest.
Mills have been closed and jobs lost to increases in efficiency and
productivity. Those are changes caused by a particular set of political
and economic decisions. The losses occurred long before owls or
environmentalists were a dominant force in the political process. Timber
management as it has been practiced in the past century has not had an
appreciable effect on the wellbeing of rural people. National ancl world
economic forces have had a more direct bearing on employment than
has timber supply (Waggener 1990~.
Some jobs have been lost due to recent change in forest policy,
lawsuits, and restricted production. Although not large in absolute or
even relative terms, those job losses create hardship for the individuals
who lost them. Persistent poverty, historic job loss, and current job loss
are all having real effects.
Cultural and lifestyle images are probably more important factors
influencing people's perceptions of the significance of loss of timber-
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Pacific Northwest Forests
based employment. Rural culture has emphasized and glorified some
extractive occupations—the farmer and the logger, among others.
Forestry is a high-visi-
The effects on overa// regions/ bility occupation and
emp/oyment and income of the culturally important
activity. The pioneer
tradition is only sev-
eral generations re-
moved from present
day in the region. Many fee} that traditional timber management built
the Northwest, and this legacy is being threatened. Retraining for jobs
at the same wages, trading a logger's suspenders for a desk job is a loss
of identity and status in a rural community. Another response to job
loss has been movement out of the community by families who have
lived there for generations.
changes in Pacific Northwest forest
practices over the past decac/e
have been re/ative/y sma//.
SUMMARY
The effects on overall regional employment and income of the changes
in Pacific Northwest forest practices over the past decade have been
relatively small. Although some communities that were dependent on
federal timber sales have suffered, the combination of a vibrant regional
economy and federal assistance to affected people and communities
have ameliorated possible impacts. in addition, a rise in the relative
importance of income derived from the recreation sector and transfer
payments has benefitted rural communities.
The importance of timber-related income in the region's economy has
continued to fall as the economic base has diversified and forest
products firms have become more efficient. Nevertheless, timber wiD
continue to play a role as a source of income to the region, one that
deserves to be weighed in decisions about forest management practices.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
timber dependency
