Oregon Lawmakers and Gov. Tina Kotek Try to Control Damage from Fire Maps

Oregon lawmakers from both parties are
scrambling to respond to a sagebrush rebellion against a state-issued wildfire
hazard map.

On Feb. 17, Republican lawmakers convened
en masse in Salem to savage the map, the final version of which was published
in January. The lawmakers took turns addressing the press from a dais bearing a
sign that said: “Repeal the Wildfire Hazard Map.”

Three hours before the GOP lawmakers
convened, Gov. Tina Kotek issued a statement (on a federal holiday, no less)
seeking to calm Oregonians who are appealing their properties’ designation on
the map as “high hazard.”

The state finalized its map of fire risks in January. Credit: Oregon Department of Forestry

Kotek said she was putting property
owners’ appeals of the unwanted designation on hold until after the legislative
session ends June 29. That way, if lawmakers decide to scrap the map — as its
chief sponsor says they are likely to do — the appeals will be moot.

“Oregonians have raised concerns over the
current Oregon
Statewide Wildfire Hazard Map,” Kotek said. “This pause will allow for the
transparent, public process required to address [it].”

Republicans say the wildfire hazard map
is causing panic for many rural Oregonians who fear a “high hazard” designation
would be financially
disastrous for them. In essence, homeowners contend, the map serves as a
guide showing insurance companies and banks which properties to avoid — a form
of rural redlining. (Oregon law prohibits insurers from using the state map to
determine whom they will insure, but it is a public record, visible to all.)

The map divides the state into three
categories: low, moderate or high hazard. Much of rural Oregon is in the third
category, colored red on the state map. Southern Oregon cities such as Medford
and Ashland appear as small dots of green (low risk) surrounded by vast
swatches, representing thousands of properties, colored red.

“The map is riddled with errors,” says
state Sen. Noah Robinson (R-Cave Junction), “and insurance rates have
skyrocketed, which is going to make it harder for people to get loans and sell
property.”

Sen. Jeff Golden (D-Ashland), chief
sponsor of the 2021 bill that created the wildfire hazard map, concedes the
goal of drawing a blueprint to optimize the deployment of firefighting
resources has gone badly off track. “The map has become such a distraction and
so polarizing I think it needs to go,” Golden tells the Oregon Journalism
Project.

Here, in three numbers, is the story of
how lawmakers using a map got lost:

106,000: That’s how many Oregon households received notice Jan. 7 that the new
map released in November categorizes their property as a “high hazard.” That
designation would require homeowners to remove vegetation or take other steps
to reduce wildfire risk. Property owners, particularly those in Jackson,
Josephine and Deschutes counties, have inundated their lawmakers with
complaints. “Rural Oregonians feel they are not being listened to,” says Sen.
Robinson, who represents Josephine County. “I don’t think Democrats in Portland
can understand what this is like.”

644: That’s how many Oregonians have filed appeals with the Oregon
Department of Forestry, taking issue with their properties’ “high hazard”
designation. The window for filing appeals remains open through March 10, but
Kotek’s pause means the state will sit on them for now rather than referring
them to the Office of Administrative Hearings.

3%: That is the percentage of wildfires that started and burned on private
land from 2014 to 2023, according to Oregon Department of Forestry figures. In
other words, the map puts the onus for wildfire prevention and mitigation on
the wrong culprits, critics say. “The wildfire map places all the
responsibility on private property owners while state and federal forest owners
do nothing,” House Minority Leader Christine Drazan (R-Canby) told reporters
Feb. 17.

—This story was produced by the Oregon Journalism Project, a nonprofit investigative newsroom for the state of Oregon. Learn more at oregonjournalismproject.org.

This article appears in The Source Weekly February 20, 2025.