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SUBSTITUTE
SENATE BILL 5325
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Passed
Legislature - 1997 Regular Session
State of Washington 55th
Legislature 1997 Regular Session
By
Read first time 02/24/97.
Allowing
counties to have certain lands transferred from the state back to the county.
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.
