PORT ANGELES — When the 1992 Forest Resource Plan is updated by the Department of Natural Resources next year, it should emphasize that the state’s 2.1 million acres of timber trust lands should produce revenue for cities, counties, universities and local governments.
That’s the message delivered to DNR personnel Wednesday night from many of the 20 people who attended a meeting at Peninsula College on updating the state’s forest management policies and procedures.
“There’s a uniform lack of understanding of the purpose of timber trust lands,” said Bob Dick Jr., Washington manager for the American Forest Resource Council.
Timber trust lands, he said, are supposed to be managed for long-term productivity to produce long-term income for the trust beneficiaries, according to the state constitution.
DNR trust lands for harvest total 72,000 acres in Clallam County and 13,600 acres in Jefferson County.
As an example of dwindling revenues to North Olympic Peninsula taxing districts, the Forks Community Hospital district received $1.1 million in state timber sale money in 1998, about $480,000 in 2000 and 2001, but only $36,000 in 2002.
Hospital, school, fire, port and county boards are calling for policies that differentiate between publicly owned forests versus timberlands set aside to support public services.
The forest resource plan covers some of the issues addressed by the recently completed 10-year sustainable harvest calculation, but is a broader plan.
It covers not just forest and timber management and harvesting, but recreation, fire protection, historical sites and other issues.
Forks City Attorney Rod Fleck said the plan update should make it very clear that other uses — such as recreation — are subordinate to the timber trust mandate.
Recreational activities should not drive harvest activity, Fleck said.