The Friends of Clark County are calling on the Clark County Council to take action immediately on a pair of proposed timber sales.
After litigation by the Legacy Forest Defence Coalition (LFDC) and the Friends of Clark County (FOCC) failed to stop the Dabbler timber sale in northeastern Clark County, two new timber sales are now on the horizon.
During the prior legal battle, the Washington state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) withheld administrative record and gave special approval to clearcut the Dabbler timber property while the legal process was underway and the county council had asked for a pause on the sale, FOCC stated in a letter to the Clark County Council. The merits hearing was scheduled for June, but the case became moot, the letter added.
The FOCC urged quick action by the county council, with some suggestions, in its letter on Monday, June 23.
During the Dabbler debacle, sparked by the fact the area was labeled a legacy forest, FOCC researched the eastern Clark County forest areas, stating in its letter that the group learned a lot in a short period of time.
“We brought our information to the council and asked you to contact the new commissioner of lands, Dave Upthegrove, the BNR and the DNR, requesting the cancellation of the Dabbler sale, the conservation of similar legacy forests, and the prioritization of carbon sequestration,
watershed health, and ecosystem services in the DNR’s management of our lands,” FOCC’s letter to Clark County Council states. “The character of these forests were close to becoming old growth, which is protected in the state of Washington.”
In response to FOCC’s requests and the community’s engagement in support of the protection of legacy forests, the FOCC letter states that the council wrote multiple letters to DNR and asked for the following actions:
“None of these actions have occurred,” FOCC stated in the 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.”
A second sale in Clark County, Dendrophobia, has not yet entered the SEPA process.
The comment period for Turnover closed in early May but is slated for a September auction.
“We understand that the Turnover sale is currently paused; however, based precisely on what happened with Dabbler and the fact that the DNR is still defying your expressed wishes to conserve older growth forests in Clark County by getting these sales ready in hopes that
Upthegrove ends the pause, we believe it is imperative to get on the record immediately and not delay your comments,” FOCC advised the Clark County Council in the letter.
The Turnover timber sale land is located in the small panhandle of Clark County on the east side of Yale Lake, north of Siouxon Creek. The Turnover site includes timber stands of Maturation 2, which means the forest has an understory with diverse species growing beneath the canopy, small gaps appearing due to natural disturbances such as wind and a relatively low presence of large fallen logs or standing dead trees, according to DNR. Maturation 2 landscapes, according to DNR, are very close to fully mature forests, with increased structural complexity and biodiversity.
“Furthermore, we are concerned that renewed plans and discussions by the council around this issue have not been inclusive of the Clark County community who brought it
to your attention,” FOCC states in their letter. “The council has given direction in support of another closed-door meeting with the DNR, even requesting inclusion of the timber industry, yet there was no invitation extended to a representative of Friends of Clark County or a local representative of the Legacy Forest Defense Coalition. Similarly, private site tours with the DNR of our trust land are being planned without inclusion of community members or the press. Finally, all of this is being planned while there has still not been any follow through on the council and Upthegrove’s promise of a public work session with him on this matter. The public must have input in the management of our public land.”
In the letter, FOCC is asking the Clark County Council to:
The status of owls questioned by FOCC
The State Forest Land SEPA Environmental Checklist for the Turnover site has a couple of inconsistencies with the reports on animals.
“There is a section where there is a checklist of the species of wildlife in the units where they have not checked the box for owls,” FOCC stated in an email with The Reflector, “then later they discuss how there shouldn’t be cutting during the owls’ nesting season so there are clear discrepancies and the SEPA reads to us as incomplete/inaccurate/rushed.”
The checklist does not check off a species of owl inhabiting on or near the timber sale site and then lists the northern spotted owl on the list of any threatened or endangered species to be on or near the site. The northern spotted owl is both listed as threatened on the federal level and endangered at the state level of conservation status. It also states that harvest operations, road buildings and heavy equipment operations are restricted in the critical nesting season — March 1 to Aug. 31 — as part of the proposed site is lying within a nest patch as part of the DNR Habitat Conservation Plan.
Data by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife states that less than 25 percent of roughly 1,200 documented owl territories in Washington are occupied by the northern spotted owl. Since the northern spotted owl was listed as endangered in Washington in 1988 and the focus of habitat loss was in the spotlight, the likelihood of the owl species becoming extinct has increased. However, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service has concluded that the competition from the barred owl is now the “primary driver behind spotted owl population declines …”
According to eBird species map data, no northern spotted owls have been spotted within at least 15 miles of the Turnover site. Data on eBird is submitted by members of the public who submit their findings from hotspots, either private property or publicly-accessible property, with the closest hotspot occurring at Beaver Bay Park.
In terms of owls not being checked off as inhabiting on or near the Turnover site in the SEPA, the northern pygmy owl, barred owl (non-native species), great horned owl, American barn owl and northern saw-whet owl have all been documented on eBird within 10 miles of the site.
