The Friends of Clark County (FOCC), an organization defending the Growth Management Act, has taken a stand against the Dabbler timber sale that could benefit the Battle Ground Public Schools district, North Country EMS and other beneficiaries.
Ann Foster, president of the FOCC and Climate Advisory Group member for Clark County, said the “business-as-usual sale of timber in legacy forests in Washington is an environmental violation in our book.”
The Dabbler timber sale in northeastern Clark County is expected to take place at the December Board of Natural Resources meeting, with an auction slated for January 2025.
If approved, the sale consists of 140 harvestable acres out of 156 in total, managed by the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The land is mainly composed of Douglas fir trees. The timber value was appraised at $3,141,000, but the American Forest Resource Council estimates the auction sale could reach a higher value. Through taxing districts, the sale could provide BGPS an estimated $677,463 and $150,843 to North Country EMS, along with other beneficiaries, previous reporting by the Reflector states.
“And yes, we understand the funding issue and that the revenue has a perfectly good use to it, schools and hospitals and charities and you name it. You know, that’s where this revenue goes,” Foster said. “But, this also means that we have to start looking at other sources for funding our schools in particular. We just have to anyway. And so now is a good time, and we decided to put the stake in the ground for us and use the Dabbler timber sale as a starting point for making the statement …”
Foster said she has no proposals for a different way to provide additional funding for schools, but there needs to be another method than timber sales.
Foster said the FOCC believes evidence suggests that earth is near a tipping point where humans have to make choices to address the global climate issues, with one of those decisions about cutting down trees in a clearcut manner. She added that it is “striking and stunning” that DNR is proceeding with the auction of the timber in the Dabbler sale.
She said the FOCC still believes the timber industry is crucial and that a future without logging is not realistic, but the issue regarding the Dabbler timber sale is more about the type of forest the Dabbler land is.
“The Dabbler timber sale is what’s called a legacy forest, which sort of falls right beneath old growth forests in terms of protection,” Foster said. “What we’re learning now is that those legacy forests are as effective in carbon sequestration as the mature old growth that do get protected. And once again, Dabbler is not the only location for this, but there are fewer and fewer within the state and within the county in particular. I think we only have three.”
According to the American Forest Resource Council, DNR’s average timber rotation age is around 63 years old, and most of the stand in the Dabbler timber sale is “actually a bit older than 63 but some are younger,” Heath Heikkila, director of government affairs for the American Forest Resource Council, said.
Foster said the FOCC supports a reconveyance concept where the DNR would transfer the land to Clark County ownership.
“What we’re asking is that the Department of Natural Resources halt the Dabbler sale and that we reconvene that property into Clark County’s ownership, and that’s consistent with the proposal that came from the Legacy Forest Defense Coalition,” Foster said. “And it’s possible to do because it’s been done before. Unfortunately, the current council in Clark County doesn’t seem to be particularly anxious to talk about that. I think maybe one councilor, perhaps two, has given it any serious consideration, but it’s definitely doable.”
Foster believes that if the county — which needs to fund infrastructure such as jail facility upgrades and a permanent home for the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, among other things — were to take ownership of the Dabbler land and take on maintenance responsibilities, it would be a win, win.
“We want that sale halted, and we want it taken off the roster as a source of timber,” Foster said. “We need to look for other sources of timber.”
To learn more about the FOCC, visit friendsofclarkcounty.org. To learn more about the action against the Dabbler timber sale and to get involved, visit their news page on the website.
