By ALEX BAUMHARDT/Oregon Capital Chronicle

SALEM — Following a rough few months of leadership and financial turmoil at the Oregon Department of Forestry — including the abrupt resignation of its director — Gov. Tina Kotek wants to change the law so she and future governors get to pick the agency’s leader, rather than the governor-appointed state Board of Forestry.

Kotek is proposing Senate Bill 1051, sponsored by Sen. Kayse Jama, D-Portland, to allow the governor to choose the director of the state Department of Forestry, also known as the state forester. The bill was introduced in the Legislature on Tuesday and referred to the Senate Committee on Rules on the same day, where it’s not subject to the same deadlines as other bills and where it will likely be heavily debated.

“Governor Kotek believes that this proposal to have the governor appoint a new state forester subject to Senate confirmation will establish an expectation for a transparent recruitment process, provide clear lines of accountability for agency performance and establish broader support for the department across both the executive and legislative branches of state government going forward,” Kotek spokesperson Anca Matica said in an email.

She added that the board has too much to do in the coming years, and it’s been distracted by the tumult the Department of Forestry has experienced in recent months, including going to the Legislature for emergency money to cover its wildfire season bills, executive investigations and firings over workplace misconduct, as reported by The Oregonian / Oregonian Live, and the abrupt resignation of its most recent director, Cal Mukumoto of Coos Bay.

“The operational and management issues the Department of Forestry has recently been through are a distraction from this important policy work, and asking for more oversight responsibility than is reasonable to expect of those who volunteer to serve on the Board,” Matica said.

The governor-appointed seven members of state Board of Forestry, which oversees rulemaking for the state’s Department of Forestry, has historically vetted and chosen the state forester. The state forester reports to the board and oversees the management and protection of 745,000 acres of forestland owned by the state of Oregon, as well as wildfire protection for 16 million acres of forestland in the state. All of this requires negotiating the desires of environmentalists, logging companies, tribes and private property owners.

Board chair Jim Kelly told the Capital Chronicle via text message that he is “not opposed” to Senate Bill 1051. He said he was speaking for himself, not the full board.

Typically, the board has required the position go to someone with a professional forestry background, namely previous work within timber and forest products industries. Under Senate Bill 1051, the state forester would not need to have such a background, but one of their deputies would have to be a “practical forester,” who is “familiar with western conditions and experienced in organization for the prevention of forest fire.”

Kelly said that while this change bothers some, it does not bother him that the state forester could potentially not have a timber or wood products background.

“My view is that we need to find the best executive talent we can and this will help accomplish that. We already have an extraordinary amount of forestry knowledge and experience in the department. It is a big organization with a vital mission that absolutely must function well to protect both our forests and Oregonians. It deserves the very best leader we can find,” he said.

Kelly said he does not see the bill as an attempted power grab from Kotek but one that could help the board focus on the policy and implementation work it’s supposed to support.

“Having served over six years now on the Board of Forestry, and I think four now as chair, I know very well that a state forester simply cannot be successful without the support of the governor, the Legislature, and the Board of Forestry. That is something I have been saying for a long time,” he said.