Several environmental groups sued Tuesday to overturn the 10-year sustainable harvest calculation for state forests of the Department of Natural Resources.
The groups, led by Seattle-based Washington Environmental Council, say the DNR, its board and Lands Commissioner Doug Sutherland did not fully consider how cutting more timber near streams, across slopes prone to landslides and in ecologically sensitive areas would affect wildlife habitat.
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday morning in King County Superior Court. The other plaintiffs are Audubon Society of Washington, Northwest Ecosystem Alliance and Olympic Forest Coalition.
It claims Sutherland and the Board of Natural Resources, which includes Jefferson County Commissioner Glen Huntingford, R-Chimacum, also failed to consider an approach meeting Forest Stewardship Council standards for “green certification.”
“Instead of adopting new logging techniques that can protect clean water and wildlife habitat, Commissioner Sutherland and the board are increasing logging in environmentally-sensitive areas,” said Joan Crooks, executive director of the Washington Environmental Council.
Status quo
The lawsuit seeks a return to the “status quo,” or the average annual harvest level from the past 10 years — about 490 million board-feet — until a new harvest level is established.
The state Department of Natural Resources manages 1.4 million acres of timber trust land in Western Washington and 2.1 million acres statewide.
Clallam County has 92,000 acres of timber trust lands, the most of any county in the state.
Jefferson County has 13,600 acres.
The 597 million board-feet annual harvest rate could mean $8 million in average annual net revenue for Clallam County agencies, including schools and hospitals, and $1.1 million for Jefferson County agencies.
Clallam County’s increase would be an increase of between 70 and 80 percent, the highest of any timber trust county in the state.
DNR spokeswoman Jane Chavey declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying: “It’s the agency’s policy never to make comments about a lawsuit in progress.”
Legal action expected
Timber industry supporters weren’t surprised by the legal action, which was expected ever since the harvest calculation was released last month.
“We’ve been waiting for it. I was expecting it,” said Forks City Attorney Rod Fleck. “We knew it was going to be their tactics.
“What you are seeing is a numbers game,” Fleck said, noting figures cited by environmentalists such a 30 percent increase in harvest levels under the new calculation.