The Oregon Surveyor Sept/Oct 2018

19 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org Feature Article T he Elliott State Forest is situated in the rugged mountains that occupy much of the southwestern portion of Oregon. It consists of prime wildlife habitat and has long been treasured by many for that reason. For about the past eight decades and without much contro- by Oregon personnel after its formation nearly a century ago. During the last de- cade or so however, issues pertaining to the proper use of that coveted land have become politically charged, pro- ducing a widely known disagreement among Oregon’s leading public officials over the forest’s financial value and the wisest course of action regarding its fate. Happily, in our country, the polit- ical preferences and goals of particular leaders, which so often generate un- fortunate decisions, cannot change or otherwise overcome the law, in the ab- sence of broad support from the societal level, enabling the law to be amended to meet changing needs. Bypassing the political machinations that have afflict- ed this remote and undeveloped land in recent times, here we will focus on the core principles of law which are power- fully illustrated by the outcome of recent litigation involving a relatively small but quite problematic 788-acre portion of this publicly protected landscape cov- ering roughly 145 square miles. Let’s turn our gaze away from the numerous specific players presently occupying the political stage, who have elevated the current controversy to the appellate judicial level and proceed to objectively examine the legal ramifications which have emerged from the wisdom of yes- teryear, for our generation to deal with. How did a vast amount of the acreage comprising Oregon become widely distributed state property in the first place? Key to every conflict involving title to land is the origin of the title in question, and in this instance that maxim rings true with rather unique force, pursuant to an intriguing sequence of historical events, replete with legal implications, in the context of land rights and the im- plementation of the public trust concept. 1859 to 1910 – Oregon achieved state- hood, and under federal law the new state was immediately endowed with ti- tle to several thousand square miles of land, distributed far and wide throughout the state because the relevant feder- al land grant was immensely broad in scope, designating state lands in each platted township within Oregon, which is blanketed by thousands of federally created townships. The purpose of this federal grant was to establish a financial foundation, derived through land sales, upon which a public educational system could be built in Oregon. Much of the state remained unsurveyed land at the date of statehood, so to a large extent the locations of the myriad tracts which had legally become Oregon lands in this manner had yet to be determined on the ground. Over the last four decades of the Nineteenth Century, the process of identifying those remote locations was largely completed, although that process was infamously plagued with scandals, along with countless other difficulties of bureaucratic origin. By the turn of the century, Oregon had sold off virtually all of the productive land thus obtained, retaining less than 5% of the total acre- age which had been federally granted to the state in support of public education. Happily, in our country, the political preferences and goals of particular leaders, which so often generate unfortunate decisions, cannot change or otherwise overcome the law, in the absence of broad support from the societal level, enabling the law to be amended to meet changing needs. Bypassing the political machinations that have afflicted this remote and undeveloped land in recent times, here we will focus on the core principles of law which are powerfully illustrated by the outcome of recent litigation involving a relatively small but quite problematic 788-acre portion of this publicly protected landscape covering roughly 145 square miles. continues T