Clark County Citizens United Inc. wants the public to know what is really at stake when the Friends of Clark County (FOCC) sues the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) over the proposed Dabbler timber harvest sale.
Councilor Sue Marshall, past president of FOCC, supported such a lawsuit, according to recent comments she has made at various venues, but CCCU believes Councilor Marshall should reconsider her support for this court action.
According to the DNR website, "In 1957, the Legislature created the Department of Natural Resources to manage state trust lands for the people of Washington.” Under the State Forest Land Trust, it states, "State Forest trust lands (Transfer and Purchase) benefit counties and junior taxing districts. They provide revenue that supports local and state schools as well as county services including roads, libraries, fire districts, ports, hospitals, fire districts and emergency management.”
DNR timber harvests are absolutely necessary for the generation of critical funding for all these community services and more. In order to provide that funding, the DNR must harvest the state forest plantations when the trees are mature and plant new trees to provide a perpetual revenue source for our communities.
If Friends of Clark County is successful in their lawsuit, the Battle Ground School District stands to lose $1,013,411.17, or over $1 million. Clark County roads will lose $634,830.94, or over a half a million dollars. The North County EMS will lose $225,644.77 or a quarter million dollars, all according to a recent Reflector article. Just these services would lose a total of $1,873,886.70 in funding, or almost $2 million.
The only way to make this money up is through taxation..
FOCC claims the DNR is not following the law as it pertains to setting aside 10% of the timber for "structurally complex forest," a subjective term. The Dabbler timber plantation only has 2% that would fall into that category. But that is not enough for FOCC. If one calculates the loss generated by setting aside 10% of the harvest revenue, it would mean Battle Ground Schools would lose $101,341.11, Clark County roads would lose $63,483.09 and North County EMS would lose $22,567.47 from the total harvest. That is a total of $187,391.67.
Again, more taxation would occur.
The citizens of Clark County should be very concerned if FOCC prevails in this lawsuit. It could mean that any future state and private tree harvest could be at risk. If that happens, the whole county would be more susceptible to possible catastrophic forest fires. Such risks should not be an option. CCCU urges all taxpayers to voice their concerns to the Washington Department of Natural Resources and the Clark County councilors.
Carol Levanen
Clark County Citizens United
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