There has been a local and regional movement to protest the new State of Oregon Wildfire Hazard Map, a result of some of the provisions of SB 762. This protest and movement have been stronger than just about anything I can recall in many years, at least when it comes to fighting State-level legislation.
In full disclosure, I was one of the many property owners in the region and in the state that received the scary certified letter from the state Department of Forestry in early January this year, stating that if I wanted to appeal I had only 60 days from the January 7th date of that letter. So, like thousands of others in Southern Oregon, I have a dog in the fight.
But you don’t have to have received one of those certified letters or be in the proposed high-risk zones to appeal this wildfire hazard map. Anyone Oregon property owner willing to file an appeal should do so, because the widely held belief is this hazard map will be bad for all of Oregon. It’s especially bad for large areas of Josephine and Jackson counties, which is why commissioners in both counties have been instrumental in helping to organize the opposition. Special kudos to Josephine County Commissioner Ron Smith for leading the charge here in Josephine County. Also kudos to the Josephine County Board of County Commissioners for agreeing to file an appeal directly from the County.
Appeals must be sent in electronically or postmarked by this Monday, March 10th. I found that it only took about 15 minutes to fill out the one-page appeal form (a fillable pdf form) and email it into ODF. It helped that I already drafted my appeal reasons as shown in the 10 points in this Grants Pass Tribune article from January 31, 2025.
The appeal form can be found on the right hand side of the following ODF web page: https://www.oregon.gov/odf/fire/pages/wildfire-hazard.aspx Note that if your property is owned in the name of a trust or business entity, you do not need to use an attorney to submit the appeal but if your appeal is heard you may need an attorney to help represent you at the hearing.
If you’re not a computer person or want help filling out the appeal form, volunteers will be available at the Josephine County Fairgrounds, Floral Building, Thursday March 6, 3pm-7pm. And significant additional resources and information about other ways to protest can be found at https://undo762.org.
The prevailing local thought is that the State will receive so many appeal forms by this Monday’s deadline that the legislature and the Governor’s office will work to eliminate this costly provision of SB 762 which is already a law that is on the books from a previous legislative session. Mass appeals will help drive the nails into the coffin of the wildfire hazard map provisions of SB 762.
In fact, the intense public outcry across the state has legislators and even the governor already scrambling to walk back these extremely unpopular provisions of SB 762. The governor has declared that appeals won’t even be processed until the end of this year’s legislative session in a few months. The hope is that the wildfire hazard map provisions of this law will be revised or repealed by the end of this legislative session.
Protesters see this proposed map as all cost and no benefits. Another popular view here locally is that private property owners are being penalized by the lack of prudent forest management on federally managed lands in Southern Oregon. Most major wildfires in Oregon start on federally managed lands. Because federally-managed forest lands are not being as actively managed and harvested like they were many years ago, there is more fuel for the fires.
“It’s all sticks and no carrots,” many locals have stated in regard to this proposed wildfire hazard map. I agree, this looks like all costs and no benefits. If this new law goes into effect as proposed, there is also a big risk that follow on legislation will further penalize property owners that find themselves in a high-risk hazard zone. Bills have already been proposed to do just that in this legislative session.
While even the Governor and SB 762 sponsors are in backpedaling mode in regard to this hazard map and related appeal process, we cannot trust that they will fix it. We must appeal in great numbers to help kill it.
And if you have spare time and feel like an overachiever, see the website that was created to help oppose this costly law at undo762.org where you can find how to send in an additional cease & desist notice, find presentations on the topic, how to contact decision makers, and more.
The bottom line is if you own property in Oregon, please consider taking 15 minutes to file an appeal and help us kill this bill. This hazard map and the related laws are all costs, no benefits, and will likely hurt property values and chip away at the rights of property owners across the state.
