Clallam County may ask to change forest law

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, June 9, 2026

PORT ANGELES — The Washington State Association of Counties is considering asking the state Legislature for changes in the state’s Forest Transfer Lands reconveyance considerations.

The Clallam County commissioners on Monday discussed a white paper written by Paul Jewell, government relations director of the Washington State Association of Counties (WSAC).

“WSAC has a Timber Counties Caucus,” Commissioner Mike French said. “Obviously, there’s been a lot of discussion about these issues all around the state, and WSAC produced a very comprehensive white paper discussing the State Forest Transfer lands reconveyance considerations, which is in the packet.”

To read the full white paper, go to tinyurl.com/PDN-WSAC-White-Paper.

Commissioner Randy Johnson sits on the WSAC Timber Counties Caucus.

“First of all, when you think about state forest lands, it should be broken up in two primary different buckets,” Johnson said. “One, of course, came at statehood, which is well over a million acres. We’re not talking about that. … What we’re talking about are those lands that are called state transfer lands, which were deeded into trust.”

The state took more than 500,000 acres of forestland into trust in the 1920s and ’30s, according to the white paper.

“These lands were originally transferred to the state to promote reforestation and protect against wildfire,” the paper stated. “In exchange, counties receive at least 75 percent of net revenues generated from timber harvest and other activities on these lands, distributed to taxing districts such as schools, hospitals and fire districts.”

Clallam County has 93,000 acres of State Forest Transfer (SFT) lands, which is more than any other county in the state, Johnson said.

“Each county, obviously, individually has a different idea about what should happen with these lands,” he said.

The revenue from timber sales of SFT lands has declined significantly in the past two decades, according to the white paper. That decline — from a high of $77.4 million to counties in 2019 to $38.8 million in 2025 — has been driven by declining stumpage prices, increased operational costs, environmental regulations and reduced harvest activity. The lands are managed by the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

“At the same time, recent management decisions by Commissioner of Public Lands Dave Upthegrove have moved to set aside an additional 77,000-80,000 acres from commercial harvest, adding to the existing 40 percent of forested state trust lands already unavailable or only partially available for harvest,” the white paper stated.

In response to those changes, WSAC’s Timber Counties Caucus is exploring whether to pursue legislative changes to the existing reconveyance statutes, which are the laws governing the return of SFT land ownership to counties.

What the commissioners are considering supporting is a multi-step process, Commissioner Mark Ozias said.

“If I understand the white paper correctly, the first component of that process would be to change the legislation such that counties had more autonomy … more ability to control management practices on those transfer lands,” Ozias said. “And then, if that legislative advocacy is successful, then that would allow individual counties that have ownership to those transfer lands to be more hands-on in the management decisions for that acreage within their individual counties.”

Changing the reconveyance statutues could provide flexibility and local control to counties, but it carries risks and trade-offs, according to the white paper.

“Counties could lose their share of DNR-generated timber revenue; face new responsibilities for forest management, road-maintenance, forest health and public liability; and potentially disrupt the state’s Habitat Conservation Plan under the federal Endangered Species Act,” the paper states.

French’s said his position is that the tool counties need doesn’t currently exist.

“If we want the tool to exist to allow a local control that changes the normal management style … right now, people are grabbing other tools and trying to use them in a way that isn’t really working or appropriate,” French said. “We have a trust land transfer program, which people have a variety of opinions on, but at least I can understand what the tool is supposed to be used for.”

Existing law allows DNR to sell or transfer SFT lands in just a few ways, according to the white paper:

• In lieu of condemnation or to resolve trespass and property ownership disputes, and the lands consist of 10 contiguous acres or less and are worth $25,000 or less; or

• To public agencies with the approval of the Board of Natural Resources (BNR) after appraisal and for at least fair market value, if such a transaction is in the best interest of the state or affected trust; or

• If the county has a contract to sell the lands aquired through tax title foreclosure within one year from the conveyance to the state; or

• The BNR has decided that lands leased to the county for a sanitary landfill and/or transfer station are no longer appropriate for management by the board; or

• Through reconveyance — if a county decides that it needs existing SFT lands for a public park, it may request reconveyance from the BNR. The lands must remain in use as a public park or be conveyed back to the state upon request by DNR. In such instances, timber resource management remains with the DNR.

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Reporter Emily Hanson can be reached by email at emily.hanson@peninsuladailynews.com.