PORT ANGELES — A forest activist urged the state Board of Natural Resources to postpone two timber sales in Clallam County’s West End until the state Department of Natural Resources completes a management plan for the federally threatened marbled murrelet.
Olympic Forest Coalition board member Marcy Golde of Seattle shared her concerns at the state Board of Natural Resources’ monthly meeting in Olympia on Tuesday.
“The board should not be proceeding with sales, ignoring the best available science and without completing proper planning,” Golde was quoted as saying in The Daily Olympian.
The two sales on state forestland total 186 acres, the Olympian reported.
“The sales are on the west side of the Olympic Peninsula near Forks,” Aaron Toso, DNR spokesman, told the Peninsula Daily News on Thursday.
The Board of Natural Resources voted not to pull the plug on the two Clallam County sales — or 13 others in potential marbled Murrelet management areas.
Jed Herman, DNR forest resources and conservation division manager, told The Daily Olympian that those 15 sales represent $10 million in revenue for schools, counties and other state trusts.
Toso said about 70 percent of the trees from those sales are in Clallam County.
“Of that 70 percent, it will essentially be split between the Common School Trust and Clallam County,” he said.
The marbled murrelet is a dove-sized seabird that nests in mature trees. The U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife Service listed the species in Washington, Oregon and California as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1992.
In Western Washington, about 145,000 acres of state trust land is designated as murrelet habitat. No timber is cut on this land, DNR said.
When DNR sells land adjacent to murrelet habitat, a 165-foot “no touch” buffer restricts timber harvests as part of the agency’s habitat conservation plan.
In 2008, scientists familiar with old growth forest ecology and the Endangered Species Act recommended stronger protections for the bird, including a 300-foot harvest buffer from murrelet habitat.
DNR will hold an open meeting in Port Angeles on Tuesday for the public to review and comment on the agency’s draft strategic plan, which will identify and prioritize DNR activities for the next five years.
The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Port Angeles Senior Center, 328 E. Seventh St., Port Angeles.
The meeting is one of seven that DNR is holding around the state on the draft strategic plan. The comment period will close Feb. 19.
The view the draft strategic plan, visit www.dnr.wa.gov.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
