Recreation and timber harvesting have a long and compatible history on the O&C lands stretching back to 1937. The O&C lands are blessed with amazing natural features and resources supporting recreation. Sustained yield management of the lands has made those features and resources accessible via an extensive road system and caring investments in infrastructure by both the BLM and the O&C Counties.
For decades starting in the early 1950s the O&C Counties spent millions of dollars for construction of roads, bridges and parks on O&C lands. These funds were part of the revenues the Counties were slated to receive under the O&C Act, but which the Counties voluntarily relinquished. These so-called “plow back” funds were intended by the Counties as investments in future forest productivity and to enhance community enjoyment of the abounding resources.
While the O&C lands are naturally bountiful in many respects, there is one limitation that is almost unique to the O&C lands, compared to (for example) the National Forests. The history of the O&C lands causes them to be in a checkerboard pattern of sections (640 acres) interspersed with private or other nonfederal lands. There are very few areas where the O&C lands are found in large, uninterrupted blocks, as are commonly found on the National Forests managed by the Forest Service.
The checkerboard of O&C ownership means there are very few areas large enough (the Rogue River corridor being a notable exception) to be considered eligible as “wilderness areas” (legally defined as 5,000 connected acres or more) where wilderness pursuits are possible. It also means the road system throughout the O&C lands serves interspersed private and other nonfederal lands and is therefore a shared system not entirely within federal control.
These are geographic facts of life that seem not to have interfered with a robust recreational lifestyle enjoyed by the many folks who visit each year. To learn more about BLM managed recreation sites and opportunities on the O&C lands, visit the BLM website.
The O&C Act says that proper management according to principles of sustained yield assures provision of recreation facilities and opportunities. The two objectives are achieved side by side. The O&C Counties have supported recreation on the O&C lands for the last 80 years and see no impediments to the happy coexistence of timber harvesting and recreation on O&C lands for the next 80 years.