Tony Schick
Timber Tax Cuts Cost Oregon Towns Billions. Then Polluted Water Drove Up the Price.
Rural communities in Oregon paid millions of dollars for clean, safe drinking water because the state didn’t protect their watersheds from logging-related contamination.
Despite What the Logging Industry Says, Cutting Down Trees Isn’t Stopping Catastrophic Wildfires
For decades, Oregon’s timber industry has promoted the idea that private, logged lands are less prone to wildfires. The problem? Science doesn’t support that.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown Calls for Audit After Our Reporting on a State Institute That Lobbied for the Timber Industry
The Oregon Forest Resources Institute worked to undercut academic research and acted as a lobbying and public relations arm for the timber industry. Now, the governor has asked for an audit.
What Happened When a Public Institute Became a De Facto Lobbying Arm of the Timber Industry
Internal emails show a tax-funded agency created to educate people about forestry has acted as a public-relations agency and lobbying arm for Oregon’s timber industry, in some cases skirting legal constraints that forbid it from doing so.
Big Money Bought the Forests. Small Logging Communities Are Paying the Price.
Wall Street investment funds took control of Oregon’s private forests. Now, wealthy timber corporations reap the benefits of tax cuts that have cost rural counties billions.
How We Analyzed Data From Oregon’s Timber Industry
A data investigation by OPB, The Oregonian/OregonLive and ProPublica found that timber tax cuts have cost counties at least $3 billion in the past three decades. Here’s how we did our analysis.
Medical Workers Treating Coronavirus Are Resorting to Homemade Masks
Wearing swim goggles for face protection and trash bags for surgical gowns, frontline healthcare workers have been forced to fend for themselves amid federal stockpile shortages.
Help Us Understand Logging and Timber Practices Across Oregon
Logging shapes the state’s economy and environment. ProPublica, Oregon Public Broadcasting and The Oregonian are teaming up to report on the issues.
