HomeMy WebLinkAbout111022 FW_ Olympic Experimental State Forest litigation update
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From: Patricia Jones
Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2022 3:12:45 PM (UTC-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada)
To: Heidi Eisenhour; Kate Dean; Greg Brotherton
Subject: Fwd: Olympic Experimental State Forest litigation update
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ALERT: BE CAUTIOUS This email originated outside the organization. Do not open attachments or click on links if you are not expecting them.
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Dear Commissioners - for your information. OFCO's suit to reinitiate consultation (require a new Biological Opinion, agency analysis, on our forests - the last one was 1995-6 and did
not include climate disruption), was successful. US Fish and Wildlife, as the regulator of DNR's management on the Olympic Peninsula, will begin the process immediately. The process
is science heavy, almost completely internal to the agency, and will take 18 mos. - 2 years. At least, there will be an opportunity to look at impacts of climate disruption now, even
if through endangered species lens. Added to the recent WA Superior Court decision requiring DNR to look more carefully at climate, we have an opportunity to learn much more about our
forests with expertise of many in the agencies.
Patricia
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From: Wyatt Golding <wgolding@ziontzchestnut.com <mailto:wgolding@ziontzchestnut.com> >
Date: Thu, Nov 10, 2022 at 2:50 PM
Subject: Olympic Experimental State Forest update
Hi All,
I think I’ve consulted in some way with each of you about the Olympic Forest Coalition’s reinitiation case on the State Trust Lands HCP in the OESF. This is an update in case you’re
curious or it impacts your work.
In good news, after we filed suit USFWS decided they’d prepare the biological opinion. The agency view is that reinitiation is on the incidental take permit, so incorporates all DNR-managed
lands and species under the HCP, but the focus will be on NSO and bull trout. For NSO we focused primarily on impacts of barred owls, for bull trout we focused on climate change and
lousy implementation of riparian buffers/adaptive management. Because of the breadth of reinitiation, it may be that this is an opportunity for FWS to identify whatever other concerns
they may have with various aspects of DNR forest management.
In light of that news, OFCO entered into an 18-month stay with regular check-ins as the agency prepares the BiOp.
Wyatt