WA forest groups sue over bigger riparian buffers  

Washington timberland owners are suing three state agencies to overturn a rule that will prohibit logging within 75 feet of streams without fish in Western Washington. The rule will take 200,000 acres of timberland out of production, according to the Washington Forest Protection Association and Washington Farm Forestry Association. The forest groups claim in a lawsuit filed Nov. 25 in Thurston County Superior Court that the expanded riparian buffers are economically, scientifically and legally indefensible.

The suit names the Forest Practices Board, which adopted the rule, and the Department of Natural Resources, which provides the board staff support. The lawsuit, however, mostly targets the Department of Ecology. Ecology strong-armed the board by wrongly insisting timber harvests could not cause any measurable change in water temperatures, the lawsuit alleges.  “Ecology’s misinterpretation of the water-quality rule led the board into error,” the lawsuit states. Ecology declined to comment on the lawsuit.

The forest groups sued two weeks after the board voted 7-5 to require 75-foot buffers along the entire length of non-fishing bearing streams. Buffers are currently 50-feet wide and required along 50% of a stream. The buffers were set in the landmark 2001 Forest and Fish agreement between state and federal agencies, tribes, and forestland owners.

Despite the shady buffers, two studies found timber harvests raised water temperatures. Nevertheless, streams stayed cool enough for salmon habitat in 93% of the cases, according to the lawsuit. Ecology told the board any measurable change violated water-quality regulations.