An Oregon nonprofit is resurrecting a controversial advertisement depicting clear-cuts in the Coast Range that sparked a legal dispute nearly five years ago with the Port of Portland.

This time, Oregon Wild is running an advertisement that says, "Welcome to Oregon, Home of the Clear-Cut," on a TriMet train.

Oregon Wild said it paid $8,000 for the eight-week campaign, which launched Thursday on a MAX train along with a separate ad on buses that says, "clear cuts = climate change." Environmental groups plan a rally Monday at Pioneer Courthouse Square in downtown Portland to draw attention to the campaign.

It's the same advertisement that generated controversy in 2013, when the Port of Portland declined to allow it to appear at Portland International Airport, citing political reasons.

Oregon Wild, with assistance from the American Civil Liberties Union, won a legal fight on the matter. In 2017, the Oregon Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling that the Port had violated the state's constitution by denying the advertisement.

Steve Pedery, Oregon Wild's conservation director, said the ad was timed this go-around to coincide with the March 20-22 Mass Timber Conference at the Oregon Convention Center and a summit starting Thursday among western states' governors designed to discuss wildfires.

The advertisement includes a reference to the group's clearcutoregon.com website, which highlights timber activity in the Coast Range in particular.

The images on the ad are a compilation of heavily logged lands north of Coquille and in the Arch Cape area.

An advertising message paid for by Oregon Wild that will appear on a MAX train for the next eight weeks.

"Despite Oregon's 'green' reputation, the laws that regulate logging in our state encourage clearcutting that destroy precious wildlife habitat, pollutes clean drinking water, warms the planet, endangers the health of communities, and threatens Oregon's natural heritage and beauty," the website states.

The environmental group said in 2013 it ran the advertisement because it saw a state that was benefiting from its green image while turning its back to forest management issues.

It seems a similar dynamic now, where timber groups which are lobbying hard for the state's cross-laminated timber industry. Portland is investing public dollars in an all-timber high-rise downtown, and state officials are considering incentivizing use of the timber product in taxpayer-funded projects at Oregon State University and the University of Oregon. Pedery likened the industry to Oregon's version of "clean coal."

"If the wood for CLT projects is coming from the same old clearcuts, there is nothing green about it," spokesman Arran Robertson said in an email.

Paul Barnum, executive director of the Oregon Forest Resources Institute, said he would be happy to talk about the virtues of cross-laminated timber by itself but not "in the context of an advertising campaign by Oregon Wild."

"That's just Oregon Wild being Oregon Wild," he said in an interview, calling it a "stunt." He declined further questions.

TriMet is required to accept "almost any message" from groups hoping to advertise on buses or trains. The agency will refuse applications that are misleading, have an adverse effect on the health, safety and welfare of TriMet customers, or are deliberately misleading.



-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen