HomeMy WebLinkAbout121321cabs01
SAMPLE LETTER FROM JEFF CO. BOCC
December 8, 2021
Angus Brodie, Uplands Deputy Supervisor
Washington Department of Natural Resources
P.O. Box 47014
Olympia, WA 98504-7014,
\[E-mail to ANGUS.BRODIE@dnr.wa.gov\]
Dear Mr. Brodie:
Thank you for the recent meeting with Heidi Eisenhour Jefferson County Commissioner, and
Peter Bahls, Director of Northwest Watershed Institute, regarding the status of the proposed
Dabob Bay Trust Land Transfer and Inter-Trust Exchange 86-100443.
We are very concerned to learn that DNR is now considering proceeding with only a partial
project that would transfer only some of the 786 acres of state trust land within the designated
boundaries of the Dabob Bay Natural Area. The public hearing process showed overwhelming
support for completing the Trust Land Transfer and Inter-Trust Exchange in their entirety, with
98 percent of public comments in support. A partial transfer would potentially waste at least
several million dollars in funding that has been secured from the state legislature and from a
state RCO grant dedicated to the project. A partial project would also leave a portion of the
Forest Board lands within the Dabob Bay Natural Area in limbo: neither properly conserved,
with due compensation to Jefferson County in the form of replacement Forest Board lands, nor
readily available for timber harvest revenue.
We understand that this situation is due to challenges with balancing timber and land values on
the Forest Board and Common School Trust properties being considered for exchange, the
potential conservation constraints of some parcels, and a lack of funds for updating an appraisal
of common school lands. However, we think it is possible for DNR to overcome these challenges
as follows:
DNR has been hampered in balancing land and timber values in the exchange due to the limited
acreage of School Trust lands in the Quilcene Fire District and the fact that County
Commissioners and most of the public requested that Common School Parcels 6,7, 11, 12, and
13 not be included as exchange parcels. This request was made because of the conservation
value of those School parcels. It was felt that for the County to take on these parcels as Forest
Board lands would present potential constraints to future timber harvest, as well as the
difficulty in protecting them through the TLT process once they became Forest Board lands
(given the shortage of Common School parcels for Inter-Trust Exchange). However, taking on
some new Forest Board lands with potential constraints is better than taking on no parcels at
all.
Furthermore, since our letter was written, DNR has convened a TLT working group under
legislative budget proviso, including Commissioner Eisenhour, and published a report for the
legislature in December that recommends significant improvements to the TLT process,
including a recommendation for using TLT directly for Forest Board lands, rather than just for
Common School lands. This change would allow TLT to compensate the county directly for land
and timber value on Forest board lands, without the need for Inter-Trust Exchange. Although
additional work remains to be done by the work group in 2022 to resolve how this will be done,
it appears that there is a viable path forward.
With these proposed changes to TLT, and given the clear need for School Trust parcels to make
the full Inter-Trust exchange work well, we now recommend including all CS parcels in Quilcene
Fire District for consideration. Furthermore, after reviewing DNR’s appraisal information on
land and timber values for each parcel, we suggest that a balanced trade in land and timber
value could be achieved by using CS parcels 5, 6, 7, 11, 12, and 13 and 15 in combination with
several other candidate parcels in the Quilcene Fire District.
Finally, we understand that DNR has depleted its funding to administer the TLT project and is
short of funding that may be needed to update an appraisal of Common School Trust lands. This
updated appraisal may be necessary to make use of $1.2 M in supplemental RCO grant funds to
complete the project in full. However, relative to the overall time and funding involved in this
project, the cost of an updated appraisal represents a small amount of additional funding
needed. We certainly hope that DNR can find the additional funding necessary to complete the
project in full.
In summary, we urge DNR to complete the TLT and Inter-Trust Exchange for all of the state trust
lands remaining within the Dabob Bay Natura Area, as proposed in the public hearing process.
Sincerely,
Board of County Commissioners
Cc: Hilary Franz, Commissioner of Public Lands