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Bill Seeks to Ban Appeals on Salvage Sales in Burned Washington Forests

thislivelyearth.com

A Washington House committee is considering a bill that would ban the public from appealing salvage sales of burned timber on state land. The bill is sponsored by Okanogan County Republican Representative Joel Kretz.

Kretz says the intent of the bill is to remove some of the obstacles to harvesting timber that has been overrun by wildfires on state land. He says speed is important in those cases because burned timber can lose its value quickly. Revenue from the sale of timber on state land goes to a school construction fund.

“My concern is that we’ve got a lot of timber with the revenue that goes, I mean we’re trying to fund schools right now. A lot of money goes into the school trust and just by a simple appeal with no skin in the game, those can be halted and the wood loses value. It’s over whether the appeal has any merit or not. And so, this would fix that,” Kretz said.

Timber advocates have long contended that conservation groups often use appeals processes to delay or stop timber sales on public lands.

Kretz’s bill stipulates that when the state Department of Natural Resources decides to put up salvage timber sales, those sales shall not be subject to appeal, either through state channels or in the courts. The bill also says, since those sales are not likely to cause significant environmental damage, they should not be subject to review under the state environmental policy act.

Our thanks to TVW for the audio for this story.