Or. Admin. Code § 629-611-0010 - Qualifications and Procedures
(1) To
qualify for the afforestation incentive, a parcel or any separate portion
thereof must meet all of the following requirements:
(a) It must be at least five contiguous
acres.
(b) The State Forester must
obtain evidence that, regardless of its use prior to July 1, 1972, from that
date until the time of afforestation it has been idle or exclusively in uses
other than commercial activities related to the growing and harvesting of
forest tree species. Forestland in understocked condition, identified
consistent with (c) below, may qualify for the incentive if the stocking was
reduced or limited by causes other than a forest operation occurring after July
1, 1972.
(c) No acre may be
certified as part of an afforestation incentive parcel if, prior to the
establishment of a well-stocked, free to grow stand of forest trees, the acre's
stocking, if any, was 25 square feet of basal area or more.
(d) Afforestation must have begun on the
parcel on or after September 9, 1995, the date ORS 526.490 became
effective.
(2) To gain
certification of a parcel as eligible for the afforestation incentive, a
landowner must request inspection by the State Forester within two to five
years following stand establishment.
(3) A request for inspection and
certification of a parcel shall be accompanied by the following:
(a) A map that depicts the parcel or portion
thereof in relation to public lands survey subdivisions and access roads for
the purpose of locating and inspecting the parcel, and that will be sufficient
to identify the parcel at the time of harvest;
(b) Photographs documenting the condition of
the parcel as idle land or land in other than adequately-stocked commercial
forest use prior to stand establishment; and
(c) Written permission of the owner to enter
the property as necessary to inspect and determine whether the parcel qualifies
for the afforestation incentive.
(4) To be certified eligible for the
afforestation incentive, the parcel's afforestation must meet or exceed the
reforestation rule standards for acceptable species, adequate stocking, and
free to grow condition found in OAR Chapter 629 Division 610 of the forest
practice rules. Pre-existing free to grow forest tree stocking may be counted
toward meeting those standards.
(5)
Landowners who qualify parcels for the afforestation incentive by meeting the
requirements of sections (1) to (4) of this rule shall be issued a certificate
by the State Forester describing the parcel and the exemption from harvest
restrictions to which the landowner is entitled.
(6) The afforestation incentive is a one-time
exemption for each individual parcel or portion thereof, applying only to
planted trees established to initially certify each parcel. These trees
constitute the parcel's first rotation stand for either even-aged or
uneven-aged management. The certification date shall be considered the
beginning of the first rotation so that, at the time of harvesting, no trees
other than the planted trees shall be included in the exemption.
(7) To ensure recognition of the
afforestation incentive at the time of harvest, many years after certification
of a parcel, landowners are encouraged to record the certificate issued by the
State Forester with the appropriate county clerk as specified under ORS
205.130.
(8) In order to exercise the exemption from
tree harvesting restrictions under ORS 526.490(3), the landowner must present a
record of the certificate to the State Forester whenever first rotation trees
are to be harvested.
Notes
Stat. Auth.: ORS 526.490
Stats. Implemented: ORS 526.490
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