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The Washington Forest Practices Board is proposing new legislation pushed by the Washington Department of Ecology that will affect all of us financially.
The Washington Forest Practices Board (FPB) is supposedly an “independent” state agency responsible for establishing rules that govern forest practices in Washington state. It’s chaired by the Commissioner of Public Lands Dave Upthegrove.
Even if you do not own trees, read on.
The FPB is proposing streams that are perennial (flow year-round) with no fish should have the existing no-harvest buffers changed from 50 feet each side of the stream to 75 feet (or more). The proposal affects not only the stream buffer width, but the length of stream buffer and volume of restricted trees.
Why does it affect you? All timber harvests are taxed by the state of Washington — 4% of the net log value goes back to the county the trees were harvested in. These dollars help pay for county roads, fire districts, hospital districts, schools and libraries. If volume is reduced, taxes returned to the counties are reduced, and dollars to our schools, fire departments, hospitals, county roads and libraries are reduced. You are affected by this proposed change in law that does nothing for fish.
Lewis County sustainably (except for housing developments) harvests more timber volume than any other county in the state. In 2024, Lewis County received almost $6 million in tax revenue to supplement our critical services of schools, fire departments, etc. The new proposal could become a total lost value of 20.5% for Lewis County, as published by research from the University of Washington. For information of rule change, see https://tinyurl.com/55s2nt4m.
You should be concerned! Write to the Forest Practices Board, or testify in person Aug. 12 in Olympia.
Dick Hopkins
Hopkins Forestry
