HB 1600-S - DIGEST
(DIGEST OF PROPOSED 1ST SUBSTITUTE)

Provides that the department may not offer for sale, sell, or harvest any ancestral trees located on public lands west of the crest of the Cascade mountains, unless: (1) The operation is specifically authorized by the board prior to sale or harvest, consistent with this act; or

(2) The operation is conducted solely within the borders of the Olympic experimental state forest and is consistent with the research objectives of the Olympic experimental state forest.

Provides that the board may only authorize the sale or harvest of ancestral trees located on public lands after making a formal finding that some harvest is necessary to preserve the health and safety of other ancestral trees in the immediate area, to protect public safety, to enhance overall forest health in the stand containing the ancestral trees, or to meet the demands of other special circumstances.

Provides that the prohibition on the sale, sell, or harvest of ancestral trees contained in this act shall be suspended by the commissioner if at any time the commissioner determines that the application of this act would result in more than one thousand acres of public lands being reserved from harvest than were deferred under regulatory or habitat conservation plan strategies in effect as of January 1, 2007.