In light of a June letter to the Clark County Council from the Friends of Clark County (FOCC) organization urging quick action with some suggestions on timber sales, the county council and the Washington state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) have been engaged in positive communication, County Chair Sue Marshall told The Reflector.
The next timber sale on state lands in Clark County is slated to be the Turnover timber sale in the northeasternmost portion of Clark County on the east side of Yale Lake. The Turnover timber sale, a Maturation II forest, has been slated for auction in September, but that timeline is likely to be delayed, according to the American Forest Resource Council, which represents DNR timber purchasers.
The letter in June from FOCC states that the council wrote multiple letters to DNR and asked for the following actions while the Dabbler timber sale challenge was unfolding:
going forward
“None of these actions have occurred,” FOCC stated in that letter, highlighted in bold letters.
The FOCC stated that, “We are now faced with another Dabbler situation with the SEPA filing and Determination of Nonsignificance (DNS) issued by the DNR recently on the 155-acre Turnover timber sale units.”
On July 30, the Clark County Council sent a letter to Upthegrove illustrating the council’s concerns and hopes regarding the Turnover timber sale.
“The council is appreciative of the Department of Natural Resources pause on moving forward with the Turnover auction and any other sales involving Maturation II forests until the Department of Natural Resources has had time to propose a new policy for the management of such forests, gather public feedback and implement the policy based on the best available science and public input received,” the letter states, “As you are aware, Clark County contains very few remaining legacy forest resources and older tree areas.”
Marshall said the council will be scheduling a tour of some of the state-owned properties in Clark County with DNR that the public will be able to join on Sept. 12 beginning at 8:30 a.m. The half-day program to tour the properties would require the public to use their own transportation from a gravel parking lot across from the Chelatchie Prairie General Store at Northeast Yale Bridge Road and Northeast Healy Road. An official notice will take place a week prior to the Sept. 12 tour, Marshall added.
Marshall said it is important to the county council to promote both harvest and conservation of older forests.
“I think we have an opportunity at this moment to take a look, and if we’re able to allow more forests to mature into old growth, that would be great,” she said, mentioning there is a program via the Climate Commitment Act for DNR to be able to purchase forest that isn’t on the Maturation II level that can be managed for harvest. “I would not want to undercut the level of forest for harvest, but with this, and I think that’s what the county is interested in looking at if we can understand what if there’s those opportunities to do some of these trades (of land) that seems to me could be a win-win for the forest and for the environment.”
Marshall mentioned that other counties have been looking at the idea and are in a better position to be competitive in getting those resources to do a land trade.
“I would just like Clark County to be in the best position possible to be able to compete for some of those funds that can be beneficial for both harvest and the environment,” Marshall said.
Councilor Matt Little, who has a background in forestry, told The Reflector that the council would identify the “best of the best” older growth forest in Clark County that are DNR trust lands to set aside and then be replaced by working forest lands that are available to be sold or threatened by development that can be brought into harvest.
Little said that would be a win-win.
“We would still be able to harvest those new stands and we would be able to conserve the older growth stands for public recreation, wildlife and ecological reasons,” Little said.
One issue with the timber sales has been the fact they help provide funding toward local school districts, library districts, fire and EMS services and more. But if state-managed timber sales were to be obsolete in Clark County, so would that funding mechanism for the local communities.
Little had also recently proposed a new advisory committee to assist the council with decisionmaking on forests. He added that he would like to include other natural resources into that advisory group, such as mining, as there is already an advisory committee for agriculture.
“We definitely want our forests to still be generating economic support for our local communities,” Little said. “At the same time, we want to preserve the last remaining older growth forests for community enjoyment and recreation.”
