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Oregon Timber Tax Maps, 1950-1996

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Oregon. State Tax Commission.
Title
Oregon Timber Tax Maps
Dates
1950-1996 (inclusive)
1955-1977 (bulk)
Quantity
28 cubic feet, including 4033 maps, (53 map folders and 17 boxes, including 13 oversize boxes)
Collection Number
MAPS TimberTax
Summary
The Oregon Timber Tax Maps consist of more than 4,000 maps and related documents detailing appraisal information for forest taxes. The collection includes annotated township maps, data sheets on timber volume, as well as many other pieces of information regarding the valuation of timbered lands in Oregon during the 1950s-1970s.
Repository
Oregon State University Libraries, Special Collections and Archives Research Center
Special Collections and Archives Research Center
121 The Valley Library
Oregon State University
Corvallis OR
97331-4501
Telephone: 5417372075
Fax: 5417378674
scarc@oregonstate.edu
Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research.

Languages
English
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Historical Note

The timber and forest industry have long been crucial to the economic and environmental health of Oregon. As a key land use and production of the state, the forest industry has been subject to several taxation system changes.

One of the most rudimentary and earliest taxations of private timberland was the property tax; however, it posed an issue when compared to the income generated through private forests. By the 1920s, Oregon had a major problem with tax delinquency among forest landowners with many forest landowners simply abandoning their ownerships due to the high property tax rates. The Oregon Legislature then chose to try and encourage the ownership and reforestation of recently harvested lands by creating the optional Forest Fee and Yield Tax Law in 1929. Under this system owners could opt into the system and were able to exempt all their timber from property taxes. Instead they were levied an annual fee on a per acre of ownership rate with a yield tax placed on the value of forest products once they were harvested.

Although this offered owners a different option for forest taxation, many did not choose to opt into this Fee and Yield Tax and the rate of tax delinquency continued to increase into the 1940s and stayed relatively high into the 1950s. In order to address this situation and develop a long-term solution, 33 forest tax bills were introduced to the Oregon Legislature between 1921 and 1959.

One of the important issues tackled in these bills was the lack of uniformity in timber assessment procedures between the counties who were responsible for levying the property taxes. In 1955 the state legislature directed the then State Tax Commission to assist the counties by developing a consistent timber inventory and valuation methodology. By 1961 the Tax Commission was the sole party responsible for forestland valuation for taxation purposes.

The Tax Commission conducted a number of studies to try and calculate a reasonable valuation of old growth timber in each county. However, there was so much variation that their plan was never adopted. In 1961 the legislature enacted new forest taxes for all lands except those in the Forest Fee and Yield Tax system. Under this new tax system landowners were subject to either an Ad Valorem Tax, Small Tract Tax, or the Fee and Yield Tax. The Ad Valorem Tax operated very similar to a property tax, with a clause that all forest land could be taxed at a lower rate to encourage forestland ownership. In addition to this, the timber was then taxed, with no annual tax on young timber, unless harvested, and older timber was taxed at 30 percent of its immediate harvest value. For the Small Tract Tax the land and timber valuation was combined into a flat true cash value per acre based on site class. Only those owning less that 1000 acres were able to opt into this program.

This new taxation system called for renewed efforts to gather information on property value and timber assets in order to implement this system. It was through these changes in the legislature that the Tax Commission took considerable time in gathering valuation data across many Oregon counties. These efforts to document and map their findings and valuation information comprise the maps and related documents in the Oregon Timber Tax Maps.

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Content Description

The Oregon Timber Tax Maps consist of 4033 maps and related documents pertaining to land and timber valuation data collected for forestland taxation purposes. The maps range from 1950 through 1978 and offer a detailed look at private ownership and forest stand data. In addition, the collection includes a 1996 document describing how the collection was formed and some background information on the collection as a whole.

The bulk of the collection is composed of information for specific counties. For the majority of Oregon counties there are township forest cover maps, which depict often detailed information on ownership and stand boundaries, estimated volume for stands, harvest and planting dates, in addition to information on roads, streams, landmarks, sections, and other key features. These forest cover maps share most of the same background information as the township-range quadrant maps and reduction maps. The quadrant maps offer a more detailed look at sections within each township and through the use of a transparent overlay are able to depict specific changes within the regions. The reduction maps also depict changes to the land base, focussing on timber volume changes resulting from harvest.

In addition to these maps the collection contains a large number of documents offering detailed numerical values to accompany the maps. These documents include volume per acre listings, account file records, cruise data, and the actual appraisal documents for several counties. Through these documents information is provided on specific section and ownerships volumes per acre, primary species in each region, the estimated log grade distributions, site class information, and timber product values for this time period.

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Use of the Collection

Preferred Citation

Oregon Timber Tax Maps (MAPS TimberTax), Oregon State University Special Collections & Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

This collection is arranged in six series: I. County Forest Cover Maps, 1956-1978; II. County Township-Range Quadrant Maps, 1960-1978; III. County Volume per Acre Listings, 1977; IV. County Timber Reduction Maps, 1950- 1977; V. County Account File Information, 1977; and VI. Reference Information and Additional Maps, 1960-1996.

Custodial History

Between 1955 and 1977 the State Timber Tax Division created several thousand maps detailing the forest patterns, logging and reforestation activities of Oregon's state and private forestlands. In 1993, Bob Zybach first became aware of this maps collection through research being done for a coastal salmon study. In 1994, he recognized that some of these maps were in the process of being destroyed due to department downsizing. Zybach enlisted the assistance of Brad Toman in making arrangements to have the maps collected and transferred to the Kerr Library Map Room. In February of 1995, Liz VanLeeuwen took steps that resulted in a department policy to stop all destruction of timber tax maps until an archival evaluation could be made.

Bob Zybach was an undergraduate and gradaute student at Oregon State University in the 1990s. He earned a BS in Forest Recreation Management in 1991; a Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies in Forest Ecology, Cultural Anthropology, and Historical Archeology in 1999; and a Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences in 2003. Liz VanLeeuwen served in the Oregon Legislature as State Representative for District 37 (Linn County) from 1981 to 1999.

Acquisition Information

These materials were transferred from the Oregon State University Libraries' maps collection to the Special Collections & Archives Research Center in 2014.

Related Materials

The Special Collections & Archives Research Center's holdings include many collections documenting forestry and the timber industry in Oregon. Of note are the following collections that also include forestry maps: Forest Type Maps of Oregon (MAPS ForestType), Royal G. Jackson Papers (MSS JacksonR), McDonald Forest and Peavy Arboretum Maps (MAPS McDonaldforest), National Forests in Oregon Maps (MAPS USFS), Oregon Department of Forestry Maps (MAPS ODF), Gerald W. Williams Collection (MSS WilliamsG), and the Donald B. Zobel Collection of Historic Forestry and Vegetation Maps (MAPS ZobelMaps). The Bob Zybach Collection (MSS Zybach) and Liz VanLeeuwen Spotted Owl Collection (MSS VanLeeuwen) are also available in the Special Collections & Archives Research Center.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Forest mapping--Oregon.
  • Forest type groups--Oregon.
  • Forests and forestry--Taxation--Oregon.
  • Timber--Oregon--Maps.

Geographical Names

  • Benton County (Or.)--Maps.
  • Clackamas County (Or.)--Maps.
  • Clatsop County (Or.)--Maps.
  • Columbia County (Or.)--Maps.
  • Coos County (Or.)--Maps.
  • Crook County (Or.)--Maps.
  • Curry County (Or.)--Maps.
  • Deschutes County (Or.)--Maps.
  • Douglas County (Or.)--Maps.
  • Hood River County (Or.)--Maps.
  • Jackson County (Or.)--Maps.
  • Jefferson County (Or.)--Maps.
  • Josephine County (Or.)--Maps.
  • Klamath County (Or.)--Maps.
  • Lake County (Or.)--Maps.
  • Lane County (Or.)--Maps.
  • Lincoln County (Or.)--Maps.
  • Linn County (Or.)--Maps.
  • Marion County (Or.)--Maps.
  • Morrow County (Or.)--Maps.
  • Multnomah County (Or.)--Maps.
  • Polk County (Or.)--Maps.
  • Tillamook County (Or.)--Maps.
  • Wasco County (Or.)--Maps.
  • Washington County (Or.)--Maps.
  • Wheeler County (Or.)--Maps.

Form or Genre Terms

  • Forestry maps.
  • Maps.

Other Creators

  • Personal Names

    • Zybach, Bob. (creator)

    Corporate Names

    • Oregon. Property Tax Division. Timber Unit. (creator)

Finding aid prepared by Anna Stewart and Elizabeth Nielsen.
2014

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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