BILL REQ. #:  S-0938.1 

Read first time 01/29/09.   Referred to Committee on Natural Resources, Ocean & Recreation.

     AN ACT Relating to alternate harvest restrictions for forest practices; amending RCW 76.09.368; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   (1) The legislature finds that the total acreage of forest land owned and managed by small forest landowners is diminishing at an alarming rate. Approximately one hundred thousand acres of private working forest land is lost annually to conversion of the land to a nonforestry land use. The loss of forest land has a direct negative impact on fish, wildlife, water quality, water resources, and the ecology of the state's watersheds and near shore marine environments. Conversion of working lands out of forestry also directly effects the livability of the state's rural and urban communities and limits the state's ability to restore the ecology of Puget Sound and address the environmental effects of climate change.
     (2) The legislature further finds that the current forest practices regulations have resulted in an unanticipated disproportionate economic impact on small forest landowners. The current regulations, coupled with the continued population growth of the state, have resulted in an increasing number of small forest landowners being forced to convert their land to nonforestry uses.
     (3) The legislature further finds that the forest and fish law, adopted in 1999, envisioned a path by which small forest landowners could satisfy environmental protections by implementing forest practices that differ from the default forest practices rules. Lewis county, together with a nonprofit partner, has developed an alternate approach for the small forest landowners living within its jurisdiction to satisfy the environmental safeguards of the current forest practices rules in a document entitled the "Family Forest Habitat Conservation Plan." This plan details alternate harvest restrictions that are specifically tailored to the unique local geography of Lewis county and are designed to be the equivalent of the environmental protections of the default forest practices rules while providing a lower administrative burden to small forest landowners.
     (4) It is the intent of this act to reaffirm the legislature's commitment to assisting small forest landowners to keep their land in active working forestry and to recognize that the alternate harvest restrictions developed by Lewis county in the family forest habitat conservation plan represents the commitment to science and to the protection of aquatic life originally envisioned in alternate harvest restrictions.

Sec. 2   RCW 76.09.368 and 2002 c 120 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The legislature intends that small forest landowners have access to alternate plan processes or alternate harvest restrictions, or both if necessary, that meet the public resource protection standard set forth in RCW 76.09.370(3), but which also lowers the overall cost of regulation to small forest landowners including, but not limited to, timber value forgone, layout costs, and operating costs.
     (2) The forest practices board shall consult with the small forest landowner office advisory committee in developing these alternate approaches. ((By July 1, 2003, the forest practices board shall provide the legislature with a written report that describes the board's progress in developing alternate plan processes or alternate harvest restrictions, or both if necessary, that meet legislative intent.))
     (3) As used in this section((,)) the following terms have the following meanings:
     (a) "Small forest landowner" has the same meaning as defined in RCW 76.13.120(2).
     (b) "Alternate harvest restrictions" means geographically appropriate restrictions on forest practices that differ from the default forest practices rules. Examples of acceptable alternate harvest restrictions include restrictions found in:
     (i) Federally approved habitat conservation plans;
     (ii) State-approved alternative plans; and
     (iii) The family forest habitat conservation plan submitted by Lewis county and a nonprofit partner on January 12, 2009, to the United States fish and wildlife service and the national oceanic and atmospheric administration.