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2019-08-19 Meeting with DNRMeeting with DNR August 19, 2019 3:31 p.m. Present: Commissioner Jackson, Commissioner Stamper, Commissioner Fund, Rep. Ed Orcutt, Budget Services Manager Becky Butler, DNR Trust Outreach Specialist Lisa Anderson, State Lands Assistant for the Pacific Cascade Region Steve Ogden, Andy Hayes of the DNR, Mike Buffo of the DNR, County Engineer Tim Fife, Public Works Director Josh Metcalf Guests: Dr. Lindsey Pollock, Alex Brown and various members of the public Recorder: Rieva Lester Participants introduced themselves. Lisa Anderson gave a PowerPoint presentation on state forest trust lands. Lisa noted that as manager of state trust lands, DNR has legal fiduciary responsibilities to: • Generate revenue and other benefits for each trust, in perpetuity • Preserve the corpus of the trust • Exercise reasonable care and skill • Act prudently to reduce the risk of loss for the trusts • Maintain undivided loyalty to beneficiaries • Act impartially with respect to current and future beneficiaries Lisa said typical recipients of funding from the state forestlands include: • State and local schools • County services • County roads • Ports • Local park districts • Library district • Fire districts • Hospitals • EMS Lisa said the following counties have state forestlands within the marbled murrelet analysis area: • Clallam • Cowlitz • Grays Harbor • Jefferson • King • Kitsap • Lewis • Mason • Pacific • Pierce • Skagit • Skamania • Snohomish • Thurston • Wahkiakum • Whatcom Rep. Orcutt said it’s confusing to call the lands state forest lands when they are, in fact, county forest lands. Andy Hayes said DNR has addressed the Endangered Species Act through a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) that focuses on the following:  Taking will be incidental  Minimize and mitigate impacts  Adequate funding for implementation  Taking will not appreciably reduce the survival and recovery of the species  Other measure the USFWS may require Andy said the DNR has four conservation strategies that address:  The northern spotted owl  The “interim” marbled murrelet  Riparian-dependent species  Other uncommon habitat Andy gave an overview of the marbled murrelet, noting that it’s a seabird that travels up to 55 miles to nest. Commissioner Stamper noted that 97 percent of the marbled murrelet population lives in Alaska and that only 1 percent of the population lives in Washington. Andy said the marbled murrelet is on the Endangered Species List in Washington but not Alaska. Andy discussed work on the Environmental Impact Study. Commissioner Stamper and Rep. Orcutt noted that Lewis County is located outside the borders of DNR’s conservation area. The group reviewed DNR’s maps at https://wadnr.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries. Andy stressed that additional footprint is smaller than it may seem as the HCP is designed to work in tandem for all of the species listed thereon. Mike Buffo compared Alternatives A and H from the Marbled Murrelet Long-term Conservation Strategy RDEIS. Commissioner Stamper noted that Lewis County did not support the move to Alternative H. Mike discussed operable acres. He said harvests can take place in General Ecological Management areas and that some harvesting can take place in riparian areas. He said changing from A to H will affect the counties’ various taxing districts differently. Andy noted that moving to Alternative H will release roughly 30,000 acres for harvest and that the Board of Natural Resources is expected to give its final determination by the end of the year. Lisa Anderson said the information about operability can be found online at https://www.dnr.wa.gov/mmltcs. Commissioner Fund said it appears the marbled murrelet is having a minimal impact on Lewis County but that the county still is not able to harvest as much as it would like. Andy said there appears to be no significant negative impacts for Lewis County. He noted that the tables will be updated to include more information. Rep. Orcutt asked if the increases are theoretical increases or actual increases that can be harvested. Steve Ogden said it would be hard to give site-specific information. Rep. Orcutt noted that it appears that Lewis County is adding 63 acres to its total operable acreage. Andy discussed the planning decade information available at https://www.dnr.wa.gov/publications/lm_shc_financial_analysis_2018.pdf?7e80y3. Andy said DNR harvests 500 million board feet on the west side of the state annually. He said the 2019 take looks to be dropping. The group discussed the Good Neighbor Authority, which allows the USDA Forest Service to enter into agreements with state forestry agencies to provide critical management work. Andy said no trust fund money goes to cover the Good Neighbor Authority. Steve Ogden discussed harvests planned for 2019 and 2020, including planned “sort” sales. He said the DNR generally has at least a week’s notice prior to harvest. He said the DNR knows when the expiration dates are, so it generally can safely say when those harvests will take place. Meeting ended at 5:04 p.m.