Clark County Chair Sue Marshall says with the comprehensive plan update in the works that now is a good time to think about the natural resources in the county, starting with the Dabbler property in the northeastern corner of the county.
The Clark County Council has sent a pair of letters to current Public Lands Commissioner Dave Upthegrove asking to pause any harvest of the Dabbler timber sale area until the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is able to engage with the council next week to review the council’s priorities and discuss options to create a framework for conserving older growth forests throughout Clark County.
As the battle against Dabbler has been consistent since August of last year, Marshall says the council has received an onslaught of emails and communications coming in from across the country, as far as New Jersey.
In 1994, the county’s first comprehensive plan under the Growth Management Act established that each growing city in the county should have green space between one another instead of turning into a sprawling urbanized area completely connected. Whether the green space be agricultural land, forest or water between cities, Marshall believes that vision is still viable today.
“I think that framework plan laid out a good vision, and I agree with it that we have to continue to protect those resources in the midst of a great deal of growth that is occurring,” Marshall said. “So, I think this year we will be looking at how we grow, and I think that in as much as the cities retain a more compact nature, that we can achieve that. But we have not really developed a plan for those areas in between cities.”
A drive down a once largely rural road, such as Northeast 72nd Avenue in Clark County, is overcome by traffic and spotty developments on land that was once the strategic greenspace between city limits.
“We have to look at strategies for those areas between the cities, the forest and the ag and natural resources and how we protect those,” Marshall said. “I don’t think we’ve looked at it in a landscape comprehensive way as much as we should.”
As for the Dabbler land, Marshall said DNR labels 53,000 acres — 11% of the county’s area — as state trust lands. She added that the county itself hasn’t established a clear vision for the forested, remote areas. Marshall suggested a forest summit to bring people together and examine the state land, and the small amount of federal land, to figure out what is most important to be protected.
“I think with the incoming public lands commissioner that there’s opportunities to enter into a dialogue about the best use of the state-owned properties,” Marshall said.
The Dabbler land itself includes 140 harvestable acres out of 156 in total. It’s a tiny portion of the 53,000 acres, but many find it crucial to keep and allow it to reach old growth forest status.
Marshall said the Dabbler land is nearing a mark where it lands 50 years out from being protected as old growth.
But Marshall does acknowledge that the timber industry generates jobs and economic growth, creating a competition between interests.
“But as the trees get older and start taking on characteristics of old growth, then it becomes more difficult for the public to see those forests being harvested,” Marshall said. “At the same time, it’s really a balancing act of competing interests, you know. We still have sawmills in Clark County that are producing high quality products, and there are jobs related to that, so, it really is a balancing act trying to figure out how best to protect the habitat and still understand that some of these lands are in our working lands intended to be harvested and generate revenue.”
Marshall said she would like to see everyone involved come together to discuss forested land and the council take the right steps toward generating a plan for the forests of Clark County.
