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Table 2-17

Projected Timber Harvest and Related Employment in Medford Timber shed

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Local signifies employment in logging, sawmills, planing mills, or veneer and plywood mills.

Nonlocal signifies employment created by processing of coarse residues from Jackson-Josephine County mills at a location outside the area.

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Table 2-18

Estimated Employees per Million Board Feet of Timber
Harvested and Processed

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Source: Based on information presented in Tables 2-16 and 2-19.

ECONOMIC CONDITIONS

Employment multipliers multipliers (USDI, BLM [DYRAM] 1978b) for Jackson, Josephine, Douglas and Klamath Counties are 1.844, 2.000, 1.562, and 1.642, respectively. This means, for example, that for every job in Jackson County's lumber and wood products industry there are 0.844 jobs that are indirectly dependent on or are supported by that lumber employment. Thus, between 1974 and 1976 Jackson County averaged 5,060 lumber and wood products jobs in logging, sawmills, veneer and plywood, and supported an estimated 4,270 indirect jobs within Jackson County. The timber industry is therefore estimated to support, directly or indirectly, approximately 20 percent of the jobs within Jackson County.

Due to technological changes, jobs per unit of timber harvested and processed will decline, even with sustained yield policies.

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Lumber and wood products earnings from Jackson County amounted to approximately 7 percent of Oregon's lumber and wood products subsector total, and 1 percent of the nation's earnings from lumber and wood products.

Based on an average of 1974-76 covered payroll data, 20 percent of Jackson County's covered payrolls came from lumber and wood products activities while only 11 percent of Oregon's total came from this sector.

In 1976, covered payroll income from logging, sawmills, planing mills, veneer and plywood employment in Jackson County was an estimated $70,411,000. Workers in the timber industry are relatively well paid and wages tend to rise at above-average rates.

Based on an income multiplier of 1.736 (USDI, BLM [DYRAM] 1978b), lumber and wood products payroll income in Jackson County supported another $51,822,000 in income from jobs indirectly related to lumber and wood products. Thus, directly or indirectly, lumber and wood products accounted for approximately $122, 233,000 of income to Jackson County.

2.17.3 The Significance of BLM Timber Management

The timber industry in Jackson County is largely dependent on Federal and State agencies for raw materials. According to the Jackson County Economic Development Program (1977), "most firms are 100 percent dependent on the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management for their raw materials. ... A few firms have their timber, but it provides only a small percentage

of their total needs."

Table 2-19 displays the 1974 to 1976 annual timber harvest from public lands in the JKSYUS. This log flow analysis indicates where the JKSYUs' timber harvest goes for processing, as well as the volatile nature of harvest patterns.

ECONOMIC CONDITIONS

The log flow analysis and the 1974-76 average harvest-related income contained in Table 2-20 is used in Table 2-21 to illustrate the 1976 personal income and employment dependent on BLM-administered timber in the JKSYUs. The equivalent of 5 percent of Jackson County's employment was tied to JKSYUs' timber. In Josephine, Douglas and Klamath Counties, the dependence on JKSYUs' timber was less. In all four counties combined, an estimated $23.3 million of personal income and the direct and indirect employment equivalent of approximately 1,850 persons were provided by BLM timber from the JKSYUs (Table 2-21).

The 1975 income from cattle and sheep grazing on public lands in the JKSYUs amounted to nearly $131,000, less than 1 percent of the 1975 total market value of agricultural products sold in Jackson County.

In addition, recreational activities on public lands in the SYUS contributed approximately $1,313,000 annually to total personal income (USDI, BLM 1977). Although hunting contributed the most personal income, other major sources included fishing, specific sightseeing, hiking, horse use, ORV use, camping, picnicking, water sports and winter sports.

Overall, the full-time equivalent employment of approximately 1,960 individuals is related to the natural resources of the public lands in the

JKSYUS.

2.17.4 Public Revenues

In addition to employment and earnings, timber resources within the JKSYUs supplement local public revenues through the sharing of BLM's O&C receipts with the 0&C counties. The 50 percent of 0&C receipts that go to the counties increase public revenues and moderate tax levies in several of the counties. It is not uncommon for O&C payments to vary significantly from one year to the next because of changes in the amount of timber harvested and changes in stumpage prices. For example, the 1977 payments showed significant increases over 1976 in both the percent supplement to the levy and the O&C revenue disbursement per $1,000 assessed value (Table 2-22). While O&C payments increased by approximately 80 percent from 1976 to 1977, taxable property assessments increased only 27 percent and tax levies increased by 16 percent for all O&C counties (USDI, BLM 1978a). In 1977, 0&C payments totaling $106,045,424 were made to the 18 O&C counties. O&C payments to Jackson County in 1977 totaled $16,617,318, the equivalent of $9.68 per $1,000 assessed value, and accounted for more than 20 percent of Jackson County's total revenue. In fiscal year 1978, however, total O&C payments had declined to $86,289,736.

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Source:

USDI, BLM, Medford District Office. Jackson-Klamath Planning Area Analysis. 1977.

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