An unconventional alliance between a Roseburg timber company and a tribal group submitted the lone bid for the Elliott State Forest, a $220.8 million transaction Oregon officials say is vital after years of slumping revenues.

One year after 50 organizations - from tribes to mega-timber companies to conservation groups - formally expressed interest in buying the 82,500-acre forest, only Roseburg-based Lone Rock Timber Management Partners and the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians went through with it, submitting their 75-page bid Tuesday just ahead of the state's deadline.

The timber company said it wants in because it already owns land nearby and sees a path to sustainably harvest timber - even amid older-growth trees - while protecting threatened species. The tribe wanted to reclaim some of its historic territory and dissuade outside companies from prospecting in Oregon.

"This is kind of an unprecedented partnership," said Jake Gibbs, Lone Rock's director of external affairs. But, primed for opposition, he also urged conservation groups to put their skepticism about the arrangement "on hold for a bit."

The prospect of selling public land to a private entity is still sacrosanct for many environmental, hunting and conservation groups. Through the partners have brought in The Conservation Fund - which helps preserve land in all 50 states - in as an adviser, they don't see the merits.

"We're concerned that this still looks like privatization," said Bob Sallinger, conservation director of the Audubon Society of Portland.

The Elliott State Forest is linked to the Common School Fund, a state account for primary education. Though it currently has more than $1.5 billion in assets and distributed about $55 million to K-12 schools in 2015, the forest has been a money loser since 2012 amid lawsuits with environmental groups over the protection of habitat for threatened species like the northern spotted owl, marbled murrelet and coastal coho salmon. No longer financially viable, the state started mapping out an exit strategy in 2014.

Sallinger decried the state's plan as a "manufactured crisis."

On Wednesday, the day after turning in the paperwork, the partners said they hope their bid strikes the right chord with Oregon Department of State Land officials, which set the sale parameters and will ultimately decide if the proposal passes muster. The tribe and timber company emphasized that the bid comes from local sources and includes provisions to maintain public access to the public on at least half of the property.

On Tuesday, a coalition of Oregon nonprofits sent a letter to Gov. Kate Brown, Treasurer Ted Wheeler and Secretary of State Jeanne Atkins condemning the process. "Privatizing the Elliott State Forest would set an incredibly dangerous precedent nationwide," the groups wrote.

That concern didn't wane Wednesday.

Steve Pedery, conservation director at Oregon Wild, said the proposal is just what the state wanted. "They wanted a bid that got them out of the land management business," he said, "and they wanted one that had enough wrapping paper and tinsel on it to look politically palatable.

"But a clear cut is just a clear cut."

Sallinger remained dubious. "We're going to give it a hard look." Sallinger said he was particularly interested in the tribe's participation, and acknowledged he'd just preliminarily examined the deal.

Michael Rondeau, the tribe's chief executive, said Cow Creek reached out to Lone Rock to try and find an arrangement that worked for everyone.

"We were concerned about out-of-state or even out-of-country ownership," he said. The tribe, which owns the Seven Feathers Casino Resort and other properties, has a well-established relationship with the timber company.

"We saw an opportunity to bring common goals together in actually managing a forest in a proper way," he said.

Rondeau said the tribe also saw a way to reestablish its foothold in Douglas and Coos County, after ceding 800 square miles of land to the U.S. government. "That's a very higher priority," he said.

Under the arrangement, the timber company would own an 87 percent stake in the forest, while the Cow Creek nation would own the remainder. Tribal members estimated their contributions to be $16 million.

According to the proposal, Lone Rock would take a $110.4 million loan from the Northwest Farm Credit Services. Two Lone Rock company officials are expected to pay the rest of the bill. "All commitments are backed by currently-existing and readily-available funding sources," according to the document.

The plan includes bringing in the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians and The Conservation Fund to help ensure public access on half of the 82,500-acre parcel.

The application included letters of support from Douglas County Commissioners, timber giant Roseburg Forest Products and other regional organizations.

If approved, Lone Rock pledges to create 40 new full or part-time jobs.

Some 20,625 acres of the land would be restricted from harvest to keep "older forest characteristics," with 95 percent of those acres applying to trees more than a century old.

Before it was a money loser, the forest netted an average of $8 million per year for the Common School Fund between 1997 and 2012.

Gibbs said he expects his company could easily log at least 35 million board feet off the Elliott, a level the state hasn't surpassed since 2000 and rarely approached in years since.

"We feel comfortable that we can do that sustainably, forever," Gibbs said, while also meeting the habitat requirements to protect salmon, spotted owl and marbled murrelets.

Sallinger said that comment alone should raise "tremendous red flags."

"If the state could get to 35 million board feet then it would have kept the forest," he said.

Because it received just one bid, the state land agency could evaluate the proposal and approve it without holding a public meeting or vote. But that's unlikely.

Julie Curtis, the department's spokeswoman, said the agency would evaluate the Lone Rock and tribe's proposal to see whether it meets state requirements.

The Oregon Land Board, currently comprised of Brown, Wheeler and Atkins, is scheduled to meet Dec. 13 and is expected to take testimony from the public. If the state agency doesn't approve the deal, the land board could approve it in December.



-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen