Forest Practices Board Approves 15-year Harvest Plans

Coming as good news on the forestry front, the Washington State Forest Practices Board on Sept. 11 voted unanimously to adopt a new rule authorizing the use of long-term management applications by small-forestland owners.
Rick Dunning (Class 23), a forestland owner in southwest Washington and President of the Washington Farm Forestry Association, said the new rule has the potential to benefit thousands of small forestland owners across the state.
In an earlier interview before the new rule was adopted, Dunning described the rule change as “the last hope” for reducing the adverse impact of highly complicated buffer requirements, which were brought on by the 1999 Forest and Fish rules.
Dunning said “lay of the land” makes it onerous—and costly—for small-scale forestland owners to draw up short-term plans. As a result, some were calling it quits and selling their land for development.
Forestland owners like Dunning, whose tree farm in Clark County consists of 135 acres, own about half of the private forestland in the state—altogether, more than 3.5 million acres.