HOUSE BILL REPORT

HB 1888

BYRepresentatives Holm, Jones, Sutherland, Sayan, J. Williams, R. King, P. King, Braddock, Crane, Kremen, Dorn, Rasmussen, D. Sommers, Amondson, Basich and Butterfield

Prohibiting tree spiking.

House Committe on Natural Resources

Majority Report:  Do pass.  (16)

      Signed by Representatives Sutherland, Chair; K. Wilson, Vice Chair; Basich, Beck, Belcher, Bumgarner, Butterfield, Cole, Dorn, Fuhrman, Haugen, Sayan, Schmidt, C. Smith, Spanel and S. Wilson.

House Staff:Pamela Madson (786-7310)

AS PASSED HOUSE FEBRUARY 15, 1988

BACKGROUND:

Over the past several years, incidences of organized opposition to logging, particularly in areas of old growth timber, have increased.  The methods used by opponents include chaining themselves to trees and equipment, and spiking trees by driving large nails or other hard substances into trees.  A spiked tree poses a danger to chainsaw users and saw mill personnel.

The usual recourse against tree spiking has been for the state to prosecute an action in trespass.  The spikes are often implanted in the trees long before they are detected which makes this offense a difficult one to prove.  Many of these activities occur on public lands (U.S. Forest Service lands) which makes prosecution for criminal trespass even more difficult in that a person cannot commit trespass on land that is open to the public.

SUMMARY:

A person is guilty of a class C felony if he or she places in trees or wood material, any substance that injures saws or manufacturing equipment, knowing that the material is intended for harvest or manufacture.

Possession of any substance that could produce injury to saws or equipment with the intent to cause such injury constitutes a gross misdemeanor.

Fiscal Note:      Not Requested.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:    Ted Price, Department of Natural Resources; and Nels Hanson, Washington Farm Forestry Association.

House Committee - Testified Against:      Dan Vanderkalk, landowner.

House Committee - Testimony For:    The specific language of this bill assists county prosecutors and they will now have specific behavior that they can prosecute as criminal activity .  Giving the crime the status of a class C felony sends a strong message deterring those contemplating this activity.  Tree spiking reduces the value of timber which affects the revenue potential for state-owned timber.  A similar bill has been passed in California.  Tree spiking has shifted recently from Oregon to Washington, from old growth timber to second growth timber, from federal lands to private lands owned by small landowners.

House Committee - Testimony Against:      Old growth timber is an irreplaceable resource and should not be cut.  Most tree spiking occurs to protect old growth forests. Those who are spiking trees are doing it as a matter of conscience to save the last vestige of a many thousand year old ecosystem.