The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

The state Board of Natural Resources approved Tuesday the transfer of 67 acres of State Forest Trust land in Wahkiakum County to conservation status.

It is the first transaction under a legislatively funded program created in 2009 to replace certain state-owned working forestlands encumbered by federal endangered species restrictions. The program targets small, economically stressed rural counties--Klickitat, Pacific, Skamania and Wahkiakum--that depend heavily on timber revenue to support public services.

An appropriation by the 2011 Legislature provides $640,000, based on the value of timber on the 67-acre parcel north of Cathlamet. Wahkiakum County will get $505,000 with most of the remainder going to reimburse the state forest land management account for costs already incurred in the stewardship of these lands.

The parcel is among the 12,911 acres of forestland that the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) manages as a trust to support Wahkiakum County services.

“This is the first of several land transfers that will provide small, timber-dependent counties like Wahkiakum with needed dollars,” Peter Goldmark, Commissioner of Public Lands said in a press release. “These transactions help counties weather the financial impacts of important federal wildlife protections.”

Dan Cothren, chair of the Wahkiakum County board of commissioners announced the vote Tuesday afternoon.

“Our county relies on timber revenues from State Forest Trust lands, but it is clear that this parcel will not be harvested anytime soon,” he said. “The funding this transfer will provide is huge for Wahkiakum County because our budgets have been hit hard by low timber prices in recent years.”

Following the transfer of the parcel into conservation status, DNR will use $27,000 of the legislative appropriation – reflecting the parcel’s land value – to purchase replacement working forestland elsewhere in the county.

DNR will manage the 67-acre parcel as a Natural Resources Conservation Area (NRCA). The parcel was determined to be occupied by marbled murrelets, a threatened sea bird that nests inland in old trees.

The 2009 Legislature created a program to help relieve the impact of long-term, endangered, species-related habitat conservation restrictions on state forest trust lands. The program is targeted to the four small timber-dependent counties. An appropriation by the 2011 Legislature provides funding to create the NRCA and pay the county for the timber on that parcel.

NRCAs are conservation areas that protect outstanding examples of native ecosystems, scenic landscapes, and habitat for endangered, threatened and sensitive plants and animals. Low impact public uses such as hiking are allowed in NRCAs if they do not impair the protected resource.

--from a DNR press release with additions by Eagle staff