36.) Citizen: “Interview with Douglass Hunnington, the Director of Public Affairs for the Eugene, Oregon Bureau of Land Management (BLM) with the United States Department of the Interior.”

Source Notes

Title: Interview with Douglass Hunnington, the Director of Public Affairs for the Eugene, Oregon Bureau of Land Management (BLM) with the United States Department of the Interior.

 

 

Summary:

In a March 11^th, 2009 interview, Douglass Hunnington, who is the Director of Public Affairs for the Eugene, Oregon Bureau of Land Management, comments on the purpose of the BLM, how land is negotiated and appropriated, and what rules and restrictions guide the BLM’s land use.

Topic: The BLM and the timber industry.

Category:

 

Institutional/ Citizen.

 

 

What is it:

Interview.

 

 

Publication Information:

N/A

 

 

Author:

Jake Swantko

 

 

Location:

Via phone.

 

 

Accessed:

Interview administered on March 11, 2009.

 

Support:

 

Douglass Hunnington, the Director of Public Affairs for the Eugene, Oregon Bureau of Land Management (BLM) with the United States Department of the Interior.

 

Question and answer format.

Interviewer: Jake Swantko (JS).

Interviewee: Douglass Hunnington (DH).

 

JS.) Please state your full name and your position at the BLM.

 

DH.) Douglass Hunnington, the Director of Public Affairs for the Eugene, Oregon Bureau of Land Management (BLM) with the United States Department of the Interior.

 

JS.) What exactly does the BLM do?

DH.) The Bureau of Land Management is the largest land manager in the United States, over 277 million acres of land. In Oregon, the BLM is responsible for managing the timber lands in western Oregon. Around the nation, the BLM is responsible for allocating land use for live stock, recreation, and energy development. The Oregon BLM operates under the O and C (Oregon and California) Act of 1937. Under this law, the BLM is required to overlook a majority of environmental regulations so it can provide timber for harvest. The O and C superceedes all acts and environmental policies.  

 

JS.) What negotiations must take place in order for land to be harvested for timber?

 

DH.) Land management plans act under the NEPA. Impact statements and alternate development plans are also required. All planning is under Federal review.

 

JS.) How does the process of timber sale work?

 

DH.) We have seven on staff appraisers that value the timber. Then that timber and development plan is auctioned off to different timber companies–big and small companies such as Swanson and Warehouse.

 

JS.) How did the Roadless Rule of 2001 impact your business?

 

DH.) Policy goes back and forth. The roadless rule did not impact land management. That act mostly affected the Forest Service.

 

Audience and Agenda:

N/A

 

 

 

Usefulness:

Doug Hunnington from the BLM gave me a good idea of the commercial use for forest lands in the Northwest and parts of California. He outlined the history of a policy (O and C Act of 1937) that allows the BLM to override environmental protection so they can meet timber quota for the Federal government. He also provided me with information regarding the process of land use and the negations that must take place before land can be harvested for timber. He also mentioned that the Forest Service was most affected by the roadless conservation rule. I’m considering interviewing someone from the Eugene Forest Service.

 

 

 

Works cited:

Douglass Hunnington, the Director of Public Affairs for the Eugene, Oregon Bureau of Land Management (BLM) with the United States Department of the Interior.

 

 

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