S-1456

AN ACT Relating to transfer of state forest lands back to counties; and adding a new section to chapter 76.12 RCW.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 76.12 RCW to read as follows:

(1) Until December 31, 2017, a county legislative authority in a county with a population of less than one million five hundred thousand persons may file an application with the board of natural resources for the transfer of all forest lands that were acquired from the county by the state pursuant to RCW 76.12.030 and that are under the administration of the department of natural resources. Upon the filing of an application by the county legislative authority, the board of natural resources shall direct the department of natural resources to reconvey without cost or resurvey the forest lands to the requesting county.

(2) Once land has been reconveyed to a county, it must be kept in commercial forest status.

(3) The land may not be sold or leased.

(4) Transferred lands may be exchanged in such manner as the legislature may prescribe.

(5) The land must be managed on a sustained yield basis and consistent with, but not in excess of, current forest practices board rules.

(6) The lands must be managed to maximize the financial benefit to the trust beneficiaries in the respective counties.

(7) Upon formal notification to the department by the respective county that they desire their state forest board transfer lands reconveyed, the department must transfer all data and documents concerning those lands back to the respective county within ninety days.

(8) Upon formal notification by the county to the department for the reconveyance of the land, the department must halt all proposed sale activity on the state forest board transfer land within the respective county. The department is required to replant all lands where there is an active sale occurring at the time a county gives formal notice to the department for reconveyance of the land.

(9) The reconveyance of the state forest board transfer land within the county must be done by quitclaim deed, and the term of the reconveyance must be for a period of not less than twenty years.

(10) Revenues shall be dispersed as provided in RCW 76.12.030.

(11) A maximum management fee of twenty percent may be charged by the counties.

(12) All existing contracts for state forest board transfer land will be honored until the completion of the contract, but no extensions may be granted.

(13) Existing memorandum of agreement, memorandum of understanding, landscape plan, habitat conservation plan, or similar agreements may be continued at the discretion of the respective county. Any habitat conservation plan inclusion of transferred lands is not permitted unless the county legislative authority agrees to the inclusion by resolution after public hearings and a full fiscal and forest management analysis.

(14) The respective county assumes liability for those lands not under contract for harvest by the purchaser at the date of the transfer of the quitclaim deed. Those lands under contract transfer to the county on the expiration date of the original contract. No extensions shall be granted. The respective county will have the option of either having the department replanting those lands, or having the lands replanted, and billing the department for that activity. When billed, the department must make payment within sixty days.

(15) Lands shall be open for public recreation consistent with timber management goals. Public access to the land must be allowed whenever possible, subject to the discretion of the local legislative authority. Lands that have recreational use funded by the interagency committee for outdoor recreation, or other similar source, shall remain in recreational use as dictated by agreement, contract, rule, or statute.

(16) County personnel managing lands transferred back to a county shall be trained to meet all of the requirements established by the department for its personnel. A county legislative authority may contract with the department for the operation of the forest program for lands transferred back to the county.

(17) All counties that exercise their option of reconveyance must make an annual report to the senate and house of representatives natural resources committees, or their successor committees, and to the board of natural resources, by February 1st of each year, as to the activities on those lands. The report must include, but is not limited to: The number of acres harvested; the volume of the harvest from those acres; the number of acres replanted; the number of acres precommercially thinned; the annual cost on a per acre basis; the age of those acres harvested; and the number of acres not designated for harvest, and the reason why such a designation was made.