PORT TOWNSEND — State Public Lands Commissioner Peter Goldmark has delayed a proposed land trade between the Department of Natural Resources and timber titan Pope Resources.
Pope is offering a trade of 4,420 acres to DNR for 2,970 acres of state land.
“This is one that we’re pausing at the current time,” Goldmark said Tuesday from his Olympia office. “We’re not going to move forward with it.
“The Jefferson County commissioners are sensitive to it. We want to hear from the community and have a dialogue with the local community.”
Goldmark said he wants more public outreach, and at least one more informational forum would be scheduled in late summer or early fall.
The proposed land exchange would consolidate DNR land near the Olympic National Forest with Pope Resources land near Dabob Bay and Port Ludlow.
The exchange involves three state trusts: Common School, for building public schools statewide; University Original, benefiting University of Washington; and State Forest Transfer lands, revenues of which support county services such as fire districts.
The three Jefferson County commissioners have said they won’t support the proposal without certain guarantees.
The Olympic Forest Coalition opposes the swap, while the Port Ludlow Village Council has come out in favor of it.
Julie Armbruster, DNR transactions project manager, said in May that of the 43 public comments received, 32 opposed it, five favored it and six just expressed concerns.
Goldmark, a Democrat who unseated Republican public lands commissioner in the November election, said during his campaign that he wanted to ensure that communities were as informed and supportive of such proposals as possible.
‘Be responsive’
“We want to be responsive, but not entirely dominated by the local community,” Goldmark said. “We must maintain landscapes that are not just good for habitat but so they can be working forests.”
On the other hand, he said, “The local community needs to be respected and their attitudes need to be respected.”
Goldmark said he recently went through a similar land-exchange process in Klickitat County, successfully coming out of it with it the support of many residents and the county board of commissioners there.
Pope proposes not to convert the land until 2025, a primary concern for the three Jefferson County commissioners.
“That’s a weekend to the timber industry,” said county Commissioner Phil Johnson of Port Townsend.
No mining
The commissioners, in a March letter to the company, asked for a legally binding document from Pope that would guarantee no land conversion to residential or mining uses for 50 years.
They also asked that Pope guarantee it will engage in the same forest practices followed by DNR, allow public access and hunting equal to DNR forest lands and guarantee well-water protection and adequate land for an on-site septic system for Paradise Bay.
Pope Resources recently offered to sweeten the deal in exchange for Jefferson County’s support.
The timber company offered to add Parcel No. 8, which is 80 acres east of Port Ludlow at Tala Point, to the exchange if the commissioners dropped their opposition.
That never happened.
County Commissioner John Austin of Port Ludlow, who has discussed the proposal with Goldmark at length, said two years to effect the land exchange was not enough time.
“The public wants to be more involved in the asset management plan” involving the land, Austin said Monday at the Jefferson County Courthouse.
The commissioners wrote a June 1 letter to Goldmark saying that they “support a delay of the exchange” of four key parcels.
The letter came after Goldmark explained in a letter to the commissioners received May 22: “The counties are beneficiaries of the income, but do not have a proprietary interest.
“It’s the state’s duty to protect and enhance the trust as a whole, not just within the borders of individual counties.”
A 50-year restriction on conversion of the land from timber farming to commercial, residential or mining uses was not the norm, Goldmark said.
“I cannot simply hold these lands indefinitely and still execute my trust responsibilities as the commissioner of public lands,” Goldmark wrote.
“However, by working together and using our joint authority, I believe we can successfully exchange and reposition these lands for long-term, sustainable management, while also protecting them where appropriate for conversion.”
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
