At loggerheads over logging

Environmental groups, agency, spar over Blanchard Mountain

Two environmental groups based in Bellingham are locked in a dispute over the fate of Blanchard Mountain.

Conservation Northwest, in 2006, helped broker a deal with the state Dept. of Natural Resources, where portions of the forested trust lands south of the city might be logged with the grudging blessing of the environmental stewards in exchange for a deal that would preserve the lofty, popular recreational areas above Larrabee State Park and the Skagit flats. Sensing a compromise that might prove useful elsewhere across the state, the Legislature agreed to compensate DNR trust beneficiaries $12 million for the loss of timber revenues that would result from reclassifying these public lands. But that agreement wasn’t sufficient for the Chuckanut Conservancy and North Cascades Conservation Council, who argue that all of Blanchard’s spectacular gifts—which uniquely connect the Cascade foothills to the Puget Sound—must be preserved. The area includes old growth stands that are habitat for the threatened marbled murrelet.

The latter groups filed a lawsuit, blocking the DNR agreement until a more thorough environmental analysis might be completed to assay the full impacts of logging. Prolonged legal action, though, potentially jeopardized the $12 million gift of the Legislature, of which $4 million is ready to spend. The state court of appeals reversed the lower court this week, finding that DNR’s original scoping of the environmental impacts of logging on Blanchard was sufficient. “Blanchard Forest is trust land and has been logged on
a sustainable basis for decades,” the appeals court found. “It is against this existing use that [DNR’s proposed] environmental impacts must be evaluated. For two-thirds of the forest, the strategies will have no impact at all; current uses will continue and new projects will continue to receive environmental review as before. For the other one-third, logging will cease altogether.”

“We have a cross-eyed court decision that basically says to DNR: ‘Blanchard Mountain is a treasure. Now go log it,’” said Ken Wilcox on behalf of a disappointed Chuckanut Conservancy. Wilcox was recently named executive director of the Bellingham-based group.

Commissioner of Public Lands “Peter Goldmark, now with the court’s blessing, can pursue intensive logging and miles of new road construction within the largest remaining roadless area on the coast of greater Puget Sound,” Wilcox said. “The ‘Goldmark Plan’ for Blanchard Mountain also calls for logging more than two miles of the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail—although the DNR did promise not to log the parking lot.” Wilcox said his group will consider their next steps.

During the first three decades of the 20th century, Blanchard Forest was logged almost entirely. Only a small amount of old growth was spared. In the early 1930s, the land was transferred to the State Forest Board in trust, to be managed for the benefit of the local taxing districts for which the land had been the revenue base. The land was reforested.

In the 1970s, DNR began to harvest second growth stands. Approximately 36 percent of the Blanchard block was harvested and regenerated in the third rotation between 1982 and 1992. Between 1992 and 2002, DNR harvested an average of 1.7 million board feet annually. As of 2002, the third generation was ready for harvest and DNR anticipated producing approximately 4 million board feet annually in three to four units ranging from 25 to 40 acres each.

Recognizing a potential battle over this third harvest, DNR in the Blanchard agreement attempted to balance its trust obligations with community interests. The agency convened a stakeholder group called the Blanchard Forest Strategies Group, with 10 members representing various interests including recreation, conservation and the timber industry. Over eight months, the group held 12 public meetings, considered the existing data and previous assessments, and reached a consensus recommendation for management of the forest.

“The court decision provides clarity so we can now take on the challenge of obtaining the remaining $7 million to implement the plan,” Conservation Northwest Executive Director Mitch Friedman said. “I understand what Ken’s group was trying to do, but they risked losing the money the Legislature had set aside to make this happen.”

“Leaving Blanchard Forest in a pristine state is a laudable goal with widespread support,” the court agreed. “But Chuckanut Conservancy forgets that as trustee, DNR can cease harvesting timber only if the trust is compensated. DNR has no power to preserve the entire forest. Only the Legislature can do that.”

“Forgets?” Wilcox exclaimed. “That’s a little odd, since this was one of the central points in our argument” that demanded legislative action.

The Blanchard agreement—a compromise by which DNR might consolidate certain public trust lands for logging while offering up adjacent portions with recreational or environmental benefits for sale to compensate trust beneficiaries—is an early model for what could potentially transfer into county management thousands of timbered acres currently slated for logging in the Lake Whatcom watershed.