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SECOND SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5574
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AS AMENDED BY THE HOUSE
Passed Legislature - 1995 Regular Session
State of Washington 54th Legislature 1995
Regular Session
By
Read first time 03/06/95.
Concerning the return of state
forest board transfer land.
AN ACT Relating to the
return of state forest board transfer lands back to counties; and creating new
sections.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF
WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec.
1. The legislature finds
that in the early 1900's and up through the 1930's, counties took possession of
a number of forest land parcels as a result of tax delinquencies. In many
cases, the timber had already been harvested from these lands prior to the forfeiture
of the property to the counties. Since that time, the department of natural
resources has reforested and managed these lands in conjunction with the state
trust lands. Given changes in forest practices, recent fluctuation in income
from the forest board lands, and questions about the management of the
department of natural resources, the legislature directs that a study of the
policies and an analysis of economic elements of the management of state forest
board lands be conducted by the legislative budget committee, in consultation
with the Washington state members of western states legislatures forestry task
force and the chairs of the senate and house of representatives committees on
natural resources.
NEW SECTION. Sec.
2. The study under section 1
of this act shall include elements such as the following:
(1) The role of forest
board lands in the state's sustained yield calculations and the effect of
removing all or part of those lands on income, yield, and management policies;
(2) The economic and
forest practice implications of separating the forest board lands from the
total lands managed by the department of natural resources;
(3) The effects of a
transfer on public access, recreation, and the management of other public and
private lands;
(4) A comparison of
forest management procedures and costs between Grays Harbor county and similar
forest board and state trust lands; and
(5) An examination of
the best possible methods and procedures to transfer board lands to the
counties.
NEW SECTION. Sec.
3. The findings of the
study, along with recommendations to the legislature, shall be submitted to the
appropriate standing committees of the legislature by December 31, 1996.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 4. If specific funding for
the purposes of this act, referencing this act by bill number, is not provided
by June 30, 1995, in the omnibus appropriations act, this act is null and void.
