A proposal to sell and harvest timber on state Department of Natural Resources lands in northeast Clark County has riled some local residents and environmental groups.
The state agency is planning to harvest 156 acres of timber on five parcels within the historic Yacolt Burn area. Even though the acreage provides habitat for federally protected spotted owls, a department report states harvesting the timber will not have a significant adverse impact on the environment.
“This is not a tree farm. These trees are over 100 years old, and the ecosystem is much older,” Jim Oliver of the Center for Responsible Forestry said in an email Friday.
Because the so-called Dabbler sale will require roughly 1,600 feet of road construction, 7,500 feet of road reconstruction and 25,550 feet of pre-haul maintenance, the Department of Natural Resources must complete a full environmental analysis of the project.
“The Dabbler timber sale is mapped as northern spotted owl habitat by the Department of Natural Resources. They’re using a loophole in their habitat conservation plan to log this area, which is admitted habitat for an endangered species, because — according to them — they have extra spotted owl habitat, and they want to log some of it,” Yacolt resident Joshua Wright said.
Even if the state does have other habitat areas for spotted owls, Wright said the species is in decline, recently becoming extinct in British Columbia, so eliminating any habitat doesn’t make sense.
“It just signals a terrible direction for the Department of Natural Resources to be targeting these last, oldest forests, especially when the department itself has identified this a known spotted owl nesting habitat,” he said.
Wright, who is a filmmaker and youth activist with the Legacy Forest Defense Coalition of Washington, said DNR’s habitat conservation plan specifies acreage targets for habitat. Because DNR reached its target for spotted owl habitat, it is now able to harvest the land, Wright said.
“They’re looking at it as, ‘We have more than is necessary, so we’re going to go log the extra.’ That’s ridiculous,” Wright said.
Oliver said the land is a remnant of the original rainforest — since regenerated from the 1902 Yacolt Burn — that contains the kind of mature trees and old-growth forest habitat spotted owls need for nesting.
“In these fragile ecological times, we should be focusing on enhancing and connecting habitats rather than just meeting the bare minimum,” Oliver said.
The Department of Natural Resources could not be reached for comment.
Clark County Councilor Gary Medvigy said the county has received “a hundred, if not hundreds” of emails from residents about the planned harvest and sale.
“DNR does not usually consult with us, nor seek our approval, since it is a state and not a county agency,” Medvigy said in an email.
In a letter sent Monday to residents, Medvigy said DNR has been “a great partner on revenue generation for our schools by managing these stands for harvest pursuant to state law. I would like the council to keep that positive relationship.”
When DNR harvests timber on trust lands, as with the Dabbler sale, proceeds are divided among the trust beneficiaries, which typically include school districts and other junior taxing districts.
Medvigy said he was asked to sign form letters opposing the sale, something he wasn’t ready to consider given the full council hasn’t discussed the sale.
Lifelong Vancouver resident Tonya Enger is also opposed to the harvest.
“Clark County has diminishing mature forests that are unscarred by clearcutting. It is becoming a novelty to find an untouched forest here in the county that I’ve called home my whole life, let alone a bona fide old growth forest,” Enger said.
As the prevalence and intensity of wildfires increases as a result of climate change, Enger said the presence of old-growth forests will become even more crucial.
“It is scientifically accepted that mature trees and old-growth forests are the most fire resilient, with second-growth forests being highly flammable. Clark County itself is slowly at risk of becoming one big second-growth tree plantation,” she said. “Why are we rushing to clear cut it when the fire risks here are becoming more and more pressing? It doesn’t make sense.”
Wright said it is unlikely the state agency will stop the sale based on residents’ concerns. But trust beneficiaries could oppose the harvest, Wright said.
There is precedent should Clark County decide to get involved. In April, a King County judge ordered the state to conduct a climate-change study before logging legacy forest lands. In February, Thurston County and the Legacy Forest Defense Coalition filed suit against the Department of Natural Resources over a planned timber sale in the Capitol State Forest.
Enger said she only recently became aware of the planned harvest.
“If we don’t draw the line at clearcutting our wild forests today, then we and our children have no chance at enjoying old-growth forests tomorrow,” she said.
Editor’s note: Jim Oliver is with the Center for Responsible Forestry. An earlier version had the name of the organization wrong.
