Local politics, the county, and the world, as viewed by Tammy Maygra
Tammy's views are her own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bill Eagle, his pastor, Tammy's neighbors, Earl Fisher, Betsy Johnson, Joe Corsiglia, President Obama, Tony Hyde, Pat Robertson, Debi Corsiglia's dog, or Claudia Eagle's Cats. This Tammy's Take (with the exception of this disclaimer) is not paid for or written by, or reviewed by anyone but Tammy and she refuses to be bullied by anyone.

I am very disappointed with former governor John Kitzhaber. I always voted for him over the crazy candidates that the Republican Party threw at him. I agreed with his health care plans, his concerns with the environment. I did not agree with his tax give a ways to corporate interests including the Washington based timber giant Weyerhaeuser. Even though several governors prior had gave away millions to this greedy corporation. To make matters worse the taxpayers are helping shoulder the costs for their road building.

Now Weyerhaeuser has adopted a plan to charge hunters to hunt on their timber lands. A yearly fee thousands to "lease parcels" even people who walk on logging roads will have to pay $150 per year per family. This will stop family outings. Even people who hunt or hike together and are not related will pay $150 a year apiece.

Generations of hunters and outdoor lovers have always used the timber lands for free. A practice Fiber generously permitted for generations. Unfortunately, Fiber sold out to this not so friendly and not so generous company. It is not like Weyerhaeuser needs the extra cash but is just plain greedy. It's just revenue enhancement," the company would take in $2.25 million if it sold all 15,000 permits it's offering.

The company claims that this will offset the costs the company endures from vandalism, garbage dumping and road damage. I understand that some lazy people dump garbage on timber lands they are not usually hunters or outdoor persons but filthy people. But to be fair I own property and people have dumped their garbage on my lands in fact right in my driveway. While it makes me angry there will always be a few idiots but not enough to use to justify this new practice. The new pay fee will allow monied people to have private usage and other taxpayers will get nothing.

The state needs to revisit its tax structure on timber companies, rewarding those that offer public access. The hunters and other outdoor lovers need to say "NO" to this permit idea and stop buying these permits ,force Weyerhaeuser to go back to free access to their lands. They benefit from the hunters- hunters keep the deer and elk population down which in turn helps the timber company's new tree plants survive. Driving the logging roads keep down vegetation that would over grow the road saving the company hundreds of thousands in road costs.

In 1998 Weyerhaeuser's taxes were minus approximately 9.5million, they got money back that they did not pay! In 2014 Weyerhaeuser in Cottage Grove received a property tax break worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The tax breaks continue in Oregon and Washington at the expense to the taxpayers This corporation is making billions off the taxpayers through tax breaks, loopholes, and subsidies and now through charging fees to access their property. I say no public access no tax breaks. I understand no entry on active logging sites, during fire season but the rest needs to be open.
Write letters to Weyerhaeuser urging them to reconsider the no entry and fee permits. Write and call your elected leaders to stop the freebees if the company does not all public access. If the taxpayers shoulder the costs to help finance this corporation then public access should not be an issue. Since I have written about this before I must apologize but something needs to be done quickly. Pretty soon the only place a person will be able to go is the local county park with the other 30 thousand people.

Don't buy a permit-put the pressure on, it may take a year or two but not falling into the corporate trap will be worth not hunting for a year. Take a stand- take back our access. I love the woods and I hope you do too.