Behind the Harney County standoff, decades of economic decline

This remote expanse of southeast Oregon, now in the spotlight for a long anti-government standoff, was one of the most prosperous pockets of the state just 40 years ago. No place earned more money per resident in 1973 than Harney County.

All of that changed within a generation. The decline of the timber industry felled the mill, then the regional economy. Timber supported a third of the county’s employment base in the 1970s. It now accounts for virtually none.

By Molly Young | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Full Story: http://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-standoff/2016/01/behind_the_harney_county_standoff_decades_of_economic_decline.html#incart_2box_business