BILL REQ. #:  S-1983.2 

READ FIRST TIME 03/05/03.   

     AN ACT Relating to assisting small forest landowners with the forest road maintenance and abandonment plan elements of the forest practices rules; amending RCW 76.09.020; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that chapter 4, Laws of 1999 sp. sess. strongly encouraged the forest practices board to adopt administrative rules that were substantially similar to the recommendations presented to the legislature in the form of the forests and fish report. In the time since the enactment of chapter 4, Laws of 1999 sp. sess., it has become clear that both the planning aspect and the implementation aspect of the road maintenance and abandonment plan requirement may cause an unforeseen and unintended disproportionate financial hardship on small forest landowners.

Sec. 2   RCW 76.09.020 and 2002 c 17 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     ((For purposes of this chapter:)) The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
     (1) "Adaptive management" means reliance on scientific methods to test the results of actions taken so that the management and related policy can be changed promptly and appropriately.
     (2) "Appeals board" means the forest practices appeals board created by RCW 76.09.210.
     (3) "Aquatic resources" includes water quality, salmon, other species of the vertebrate classes Cephalaspidomorphi and Osteichthyes identified in the forests and fish report, the Columbia torrent salamander (Rhyacotriton kezeri), the Cascade torrent salamander (Rhyacotriton cascadae), the Olympic torrent salamander (Rhyacotriton olympian), the Dunn's salamander (Plethodon dunni), the Van Dyke's salamander (Plethodon vandyke), the tailed frog (Ascaphus truei), and their respective habitats.
     (4) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of public lands.
     (5) "Contiguous" means land adjoining or touching by common corner or otherwise. Land having common ownership divided by a road or other right of way shall be considered contiguous.
     (6) "Conversion to a use other than commercial timber operation" means a bona fide conversion to an active use which is incompatible with timber growing and as may be defined by forest practices rules.
     (7) "Department" means the department of natural resources.
     (8) "Forest land" means all land which is capable of supporting a merchantable stand of timber and is not being actively used for a use which is incompatible with timber growing. Forest land does not include agricultural land that is or was enrolled in the conservation reserve enhancement program by contract if such agricultural land was historically used for agricultural purposes and the landowner intends to continue to use the land for agricultural purposes in the future.
     (9) "Forest landowner" means any person in actual control of forest land, whether such control is based either on legal or equitable title, or on any other interest entitling the holder to sell or otherwise dispose of any or all of the timber on such land in any manner((: PROVIDED, That)). However, any lessee or other person in possession of forest land without legal or equitable title to such land shall be excluded from the definition of "forest landowner" unless such lessee or other person has the right to sell or otherwise dispose of any or all of the timber located on such forest land.
     (10) "Forest practice" means any activity conducted on or directly pertaining to forest land and relating to growing, harvesting, or processing timber, including but not limited to:
     (a) Road and trail construction;
     (b) Harvesting, final and intermediate;
     (c) Precommercial thinning;
     (d) Reforestation;
     (e) Fertilization;
     (f) Prevention and suppression of diseases and insects;
     (g) Salvage of trees; and
     (h) Brush control.
"Forest practice" shall not include preparatory work such as tree marking, surveying and road flagging, and removal or harvesting of incidental vegetation from forest lands such as berries, ferns, greenery, mistletoe, herbs, mushrooms, and other products which cannot normally be expected to result in damage to forest soils, timber, or public resources.
     (11) "Forest practices rules" means any rules adopted pursuant to RCW 76.09.040.
     (12) "Forest trees" does not include hardwood trees cultivated by agricultural methods in growing cycles shorter than fifteen years if the trees were planted on land that was not in forest use immediately before the trees were planted and before the land was prepared for planting the trees. "Forest trees" includes Christmas trees, but does not include Christmas trees that are cultivated by agricultural methods, as that term is defined in RCW 84.33.035.
     (13) "Forests and fish report" means the forests and fish report to the board dated April 29, 1999.
     (14) "Application" means the application required pursuant to RCW 76.09.050.
     (15) "Operator" means any person engaging in forest practices except an employee with wages as his or her sole compensation.
     (16) "Person" means any individual, partnership, private, public, or municipal corporation, county, the department or other state or local governmental entity, or association of individuals of whatever nature.
     (17) "Public resources" means water, fish and wildlife, and in addition shall mean capital improvements of the state or its political subdivisions.
     (18) "Timber" means forest trees, standing or down, of a commercial species, including Christmas trees. However, "timber" does not include Christmas trees that are cultivated by agricultural methods, as that term is defined in RCW 84.33.035.
     (19) "Timber owner" means any person having all or any part of the legal interest in timber. Where such timber is subject to a contract of sale, "timber owner" shall mean the contract purchaser.
     (20) "Board" means the forest practices board created in RCW 76.09.030.
     (21) "Unconfined avulsing channel migration zone" means the area within which the active channel of an unconfined avulsing stream is prone to move and where the movement would result in a potential near-term loss of riparian forest adjacent to the stream. Sizeable islands with productive timber may exist within the zone.
     (22) "Unconfined avulsing stream" means generally fifth order or larger waters that experience abrupt shifts in channel location, creating a complex flood plain characterized by extensive gravel bars, disturbance species of vegetation of variable age, numerous side channels, wall-based channels, oxbow lakes, and wetland complexes. Many of these streams have dikes and levees that may temporarily or permanently restrict channel movement.
     (23) "Grazing lands" means land that is primarily used for animal foraging on naturally occurring or planted vegetation, but does not include land that is used by free-ranging livestock.