PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles Business Association is supporting an argument that the state Legislature and the Department of Natural Resources have not fulfilled their fiduciary responsibility to Clallam County regarding forestland management.
The argument, advanced by retired politician Jim Buck of Joyce, is currently under review by the county prosecuting attorneys office, which will determine if the county has grounds to sue the state over breach of contract.
The situation began in the 1930s, when a number of counties deeded land, now known as state forest transfer land, to the state. The terms of the transfer stated the land was to be held in trust by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), which would manage it in ways to economically benefit the beneficiary county.
Buck said that means DNR must act with undivided loyalty in the interests of the county when managing land.
In all, Clallam County has deeded a total of between 86,000 and 93,000 acres to the state to be held in trust.
“Our organization emphatically agrees with Jim Buck’s letter and his analysis of the exact legal status of these lands,” the PABA’s letter said. “Thus, legal action to vindicate the rights of Clallam County beneficiaries needs to be pursued if petitions to DNR to rectify their mismanagement prove unfruitful.”
The letter provided additional statements regarding how state actors may have violated their fiduciary responsibility.
Quoting a 2022 state Supreme Court decision, the letter stated the DNR is “obligated by statute to manage forest board lands for the benefit of the counties who granted land to the State.”
The letter argued that previous DNR actors stepped outside of the bounds of their legal authority in removing tracts of state forest transfer land from harvestable acres.
For example, on Dec. 18, 2023, then-Commissioner Hilary Franz unilaterally canceled the 126-acre timber sale “Power Plant,” nominating 69 acres for permanent conservation.
Additionally, in December 2024, Franz postponed the 139-acre “Alley Cat” sale. The letter argued that both that action, and Commissioner Dave Upthegrove’s pause that implicates some Clallam County parcels, are modifying the DNR’s Sustainable Harvest Plan, which can only legally be done by the entire Board of Natural Resources.
These acts, the letter stated, are “evidence of divided loyalty in favoring policies incompatible with the fiduciary responsibility of DNR to provide sustainable financial returns on Clallam lands.”
The letter also stated that the PABA believes DNR has set aside too much land as protected for marbled murrelet habitat. According to the letter, marbled murrelets only nest in old growth trees.
However, some of the more than 21,000 Clallam County acres set aside for murrelets are second-growth lands “unsuitable by definition as murrelet habitat,” according to the letter.
A 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision stated that only land currently suitable as habitat can be set aside and dedicated to the species survival. Because second-growth lands are not suitable as habitat, the letter stated that was yet another example of actions taken outside the DNR’s legal bounds.
After the prosecuting attorney’s office determines the legal merit of the argument, it will likely be taken up by the county’s Revenue Advisory Committee for a discussion on next steps.
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Reporter Emma Maple can be reached by email at emma.maple@peninsuladailynews.com.
