FORKS — The Nature Conservancy is hosting a public meeting to explore the concept of creating a community forest on the West End of Jefferson and Clallam counties.
The meeting will be at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Olympic Natural Resources Center (ONRC) at 1455 S. Forks Ave., to present possibilities and get public input.
A community forest is a working forest owned and managed by or on behalf of a local community.
The Nature Conservancy “believes that a community forest model may be the best long-term solution to ensuring local values and economy,” said Frank Hanson, who is in charge of education and outreach at the ONRC.
The public conversation will be facilitated by The Nature Conservancy staff members: Garett Dalan, Washington coast community relations manager; and Catlin Doughty, conservation coordinator at the ONRC.
“Since the 1980s, more than 17 percent of Washington’s commercial forests have been converted to other land uses,” according to the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
“As working forests vanish, so do many of their benefits, such as local timber sources, jobs, clean air and water, and open land for outdoor recreation.”
In 2018, the state Legislature told DNR to learn more about state community forests owned by a range of entities and to compile a list of potential community forests from around the state, Hanson said.
The Nature Conservancy, which manages the Hoh River Trust lands, initiated several meetings of a community focus group to begin a conversation about a potential community forest on the West End.
It now is opening up the discussions to the larger community, Hanson said.
“These conversations are in their early stages,” Hanson said. “This potential project is at a point where there is support from some of the focus group members to assess the feasibility and viability of creating a community forest.”
The ONRC was created by the state Legislature in 1991, and built in 1995, to integrate ecological and economic concerns, the agency said. It is administered by the University of Washington.
