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New state park has an old feature: logging
Sunday, July 29, 2007 | 1 comment(s)
PORTLAND (AP) - A clear-cut logging operation is under way in part of Oregon's newest full-service state park near Vernonia in Washington County.
L.L. “Stub” Stewart park is 1,654 acres, and Jim Smejkal of Banks has logging rights to 113 of them - left over from a series of land swaps that involved Longview Fibre, the state's parks and forestry departments, and Washington and Tillamook counties.
The state and Smejkal haven't agreed on a deal for his rights, so he plans to cut 25 acres inside the park.
Smejkal wanted coastal acreage in exchange for the rights, but the Department of Forestry wasn't interested. Other potential parcels weren't to his liking. State officials have promised money, he said, but he's still waiting for a final offer.
Before anything changes hands, a forestry expert must determine how much the timber is worth. Five years ago, it was valued at $1.1 million, said Dave Wright, assistant director for operations for the parks department.
“We keep sending him ideas, but so far we haven't hit on the right thing,” Wright said.
“Time will tell if they're going to come up with the money or not,” Smejkal said. “Or if I'm going to keep logging.”
Smejkal, 73, said he is sentimentally attached to the 113 acres.
His father, a Czechoslovak immigrant, was 14 when he worked on a logging crew on the property, chopping wood to fuel the steam-powered machinery used to move the virgin timber.
In 1952, when Smejkal was 18, he bought the acreage for $5,250 - half borrowed from his father and repaid the next summer after a harvest.
Smejkal gave the state the land at the north end of the park in exchange for two undeveloped parcels - 30 acres inside the Wallowa Lake Highway Forest and nearly 18 acres near Arcadia Beach in Clatsop County.
Smejkal retained timber rights to most of the 113-acre parcel to make the trade equal. The state kept $97,000 in logging rights to provide for campsites. The deal was signed in 2002, and Smejkal's timber rights expire in 2012.
With the beginning of logging, about a mile of trail has been closed, said Chris Havel, a state parks spokesman. He said the state doesn't expect any long-term effect on the park.
The park opened July 8 and is named for a former state parks commissioner and philanthropist who co-owned Bohemia Lumber in Lane County.
L.L. “Stub” Stewart park is 1,654 acres, and Jim Smejkal of Banks has logging rights to 113 of them - left over from a series of land swaps that involved Longview Fibre, the state's parks and forestry departments, and Washington and Tillamook counties.
The state and Smejkal haven't agreed on a deal for his rights, so he plans to cut 25 acres inside the park.
Smejkal wanted coastal acreage in exchange for the rights, but the Department of Forestry wasn't interested. Other potential parcels weren't to his liking. State officials have promised money, he said, but he's still waiting for a final offer.
Before anything changes hands, a forestry expert must determine how much the timber is worth. Five years ago, it was valued at $1.1 million, said Dave Wright, assistant director for operations for the parks department.
“We keep sending him ideas, but so far we haven't hit on the right thing,” Wright said.
“Time will tell if they're going to come up with the money or not,” Smejkal said. “Or if I'm going to keep logging.”
Smejkal, 73, said he is sentimentally attached to the 113 acres.
His father, a Czechoslovak immigrant, was 14 when he worked on a logging crew on the property, chopping wood to fuel the steam-powered machinery used to move the virgin timber.
In 1952, when Smejkal was 18, he bought the acreage for $5,250 - half borrowed from his father and repaid the next summer after a harvest.
Smejkal gave the state the land at the north end of the park in exchange for two undeveloped parcels - 30 acres inside the Wallowa Lake Highway Forest and nearly 18 acres near Arcadia Beach in Clatsop County.
Smejkal retained timber rights to most of the 113-acre parcel to make the trade equal. The state kept $97,000 in logging rights to provide for campsites. The deal was signed in 2002, and Smejkal's timber rights expire in 2012.
With the beginning of logging, about a mile of trail has been closed, said Chris Havel, a state parks spokesman. He said the state doesn't expect any long-term effect on the park.
The park opened July 8 and is named for a former state parks commissioner and philanthropist who co-owned Bohemia Lumber in Lane County.
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