News Item

A Linn County jury awarded a group of rural, timber-producing Oregon counties (including Linn County) $1.06 billion in damages because the state failed to harvest timber in state forests (from which two-thirds of the proceeds go to those counties) at historically high levels. The damages are for the trees not harvested since 2001 (because of concern for the environment and the recreation economy) and for trees that might possibly be harvested 50 years into the future.