position statements: washington dnr trust land management
Washington DNR Trust Land Management
Washington State was gifted at statehood with several million acres of forest and agricultural lands by the federal government. In the late 1920s another substantial body of lands was returned to the state for defaulted tax liens. A series of trusts were created for these lands, with the specific purpose of generating revenue for trust beneficiaries.
The Washington State Department of Natural Resources is charged with managing these lands and has returned several billion dollars to beneficiaries over the past 30 years.
There have been several legal challenges to various aspects of the trust land management questioning (1) the supremacy of trust beneficiaries (Skamania decision); and (2) the trust mandate to produce income (Loomis [I]). Both decisions have been upheld. These decisions are consistent with other states' trust land judicial opinions.
DNR trust land management has been turbulent and highly controversial over the past eight years. Endangered species management, land use planning, timber harvest levels, sustained yield instability, chaotic internal management and unexpected revenue reductions all contributed to an unparalleled level of mistrust and unrest inside and outside the department. A new administration, however, brings opportunities to quell the chaos and return a constructive approach to trust land management.
The Washington State Society of American Foresters (WSSAF) supports Department of Natural Resources' efforts to build a professionally run organization committed to managing trust lands for revenue production. We applaud DNR's efforts to calculate a new sustained yield based on the best available technology and data. We concurrently are supportive of using the existing Habitat Conservation Plan and Forest Resource Plans as the base documents and management philosophy.
We recommend that the department examine all existing land use constraints to better understand the impacts and alternatives of those constraints. We further recommend that the department make every effort to educate the Board of Natural Resources, beneficiaries and the public about land management and sustained yield issues. They are inextricably intertwined in a complex mosaic that drives land management decisions, including harvest, revenue and resource protection.
WSSAF further urges the department to explore the relationship between revenue production and resource protection. The prevailing philosophy has been that lower production equates to higher resource protection. Within reasonable bounds, the reverse is true. Keeping revenue generation high ensures the lands will remain attractive to beneficiaries as a revenue source rather than selling them to the highest bidder, thus encouraging conversion to non-forest uses. As our state continues to develop, DNR managed trust lands are too important to beneficiaries, the public, the state's economy, and the production of forest products to lose.
Adopted with 96% approval by member referendum of the Washington State Society of American Foresters (WSSAF) on December 4, 2002. This statement will expire on December 4, 2005, unless after thorough review it is renewed by the WSSAF Executive Committee.