OAR 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 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.