SEATTLE (AP) — Nearly 7,000 acres of private forest land on the southern flanks of Mount St. Helens will be protected from development under a $2.4 million conservation easement that Pope Resources has sold to Washington state.
The easement will allow continued timber management and harvests, as well as public recreational use.
The Seattle Times reports that the state Department of Natural Resources purchased the easement with money from the federal Forest Legacy Program.
The easement sale announced Thursday by Pope Resources covers timberlands that surround Swift Creek Reservoir in Skamania County, adjacent to state trust land managed by the DNR.
