The Elliott State Research Forest (ESRF), located in the Coast Range just north and east of Coos Bay, is located on the traditional lands of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Tribes, who were the original stewards of the land prior to Euro-American settlement and the forcible removal of the Tribes to reservations. In 1930, the 83,000-acre Elliott State Forest was established as Oregon’s first state forest. Starting in 1955 and for the next several decades, the Elliott State Forest helped fund Oregon public schools through the harvest and sale of timber and replanting of even-aged stands focused on continued timber production.

In more recent years, the Elliott State Forest had been at the center of growing tension between the forest’s historical role of helping fund public schools and the forest’s potential to provide benefits beyond harvest revenue, including habitat for native species, carbon sequestration, clean water and recreation, and Tribal cultural uses including hunting, fishing and gathering traditional foods and medicines.

In response, the State Land Board requested that Oregon State University (OSU), in collaboration with the Oregon Department of State Lands, explore the potential transformation of the Elliott State Forest into a publicly owned research forest managed by the OSU College of Forestry.

The OSU College of Forestry’s proposal for the ESRF is a collaboratively developed research framework.

From 2019-2022, planning work for the ESRF was guided by the State Land Board and a 15-member advisory committee established by the state representing diverse perspectives on conservation, timber, schools, recreation, local governments and more. Their input and insight, along with extensive engagement of Tribal Nations, community stakeholders and the public, has helped resolve many challenging issues. The research proposal was formally approved by the Oregon Department of State Lands, the advisory committee and the State Land Board in April 2021.

The collaborative work of the advisory committee, the Department of State Lands and OSU was reflected in the April 2022 passing of Senate Bill 1546, which established the ESRF and a public agency to administer the forest, the Elliott State Research Forest Authority (ESRFA). The creation of this new agency helps ensure that Oregon’s new world-class research forest will be governed with the accountability and transparency Oregonians expect.

Following the guidelines of Senate Bill 1546, the initial advisory committee was relieved of its duty in Dec. 2022, and a prospective nine-member ESRFA Board of Directors was established by the State Land Board. This prospective board will serve in an advisory capacity on continued planning for the forest until their official appointments begin Jan. 1, 2024.

Two important planning documents are currently in development for the ESRF:

• Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP): After several years of consultation with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, OSU and others, the Department of State Lands submitted an ESRF Administrative Draft HCP to federal agencies for review on October 8, 2021. The HCP reflects the management that will occur under the OSU Research Proposal. A public draft of the HCP was released in November 2022 for comment. The Department of State Lands is continuing to update the draft HCP in response to public comments received by early January 2023 and input from the Services (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service) and ESRFA Prospective Board.
• Forest Management Plan (FMP): The December 2023 ESRF Forest Management Plan (FMP) is now available, including the ESRF Watershed Atlas, a supplemental document that provides maps of the ESRF at the subwatershed scale. Public comments on the 2023 Draft FMP received during the public comment period earlier this fall, along with responses to these comments from OSU staff, are also available.