PORT ANGELES — Clallam County Commissioner Bill Peach, in his role as the timber county representative on the state Department of Natural Resources, has asked for more data on the financial impacts of marbled murrelet protection.
Harvest calculation
Peach, one of six members on a board that guides how DNR manages its lands, told his fellow county commissioners Tuesday that DNR’s new sustainable harvest calculation has been rescheduled for the third quarter of next year.
The decadal sustainable harvest yield, now two years overdue, identifies areas where timber can be sold for revenue.
Revenue from timber sales supports 21 timber counties and myriad junior taxing districts such as schools, hospitals, libraries and fire departments.
Monthly meeting
Peach briefed his fellow commissioners on the monthly Board of Natural Resources meeting from last Tuesday, saying the sustainable harvest yield was originally planned for the end of this year.
“The good news, I think, is with that amount of [additional] time, they’re going to be able to answer some questions and get into some detail,” Peach said.
“As a matter of public record, I made a request to staff that the financial analysis for the murrelet environmental impact statement — it’s all part of the sustained yield calculation — detail the impact by county and by trust.
“And the reasoning was that when the original EIS [environmental impact statement], or the habitat conservation plan, was established 19 years ago, the financial analysis said there was a negligible impact with and without [murrelet protection],” Peach added.
“Nineteen years later, we have over 623,000 acres, at $10,000 an acre, that’s not producing money for the beneficiaries. That’s a $6 billion change. So what I’m asking is, let us be very careful this next report.”
The marbled murrelet is a small, threatened seabird that nests in coastal forests.
Murrelet’s impact
Its presence on state trust lands is one of many factors that impact forest management.
“It’s a very complex issue,” said Peach, a retired forester who represents the West End.
DNR manages about 92,500 acres of timberlands on behalf of Clallam County and the junior taxing districts within it.
In other news from the county business meeting, commissioners inked a one-year contract extension with Correctional Healthcare Cos. Inc. to provide medical services to inmates in the Clallam County jail.
A $6,541 increase in the contract based on the consumer price index for health care brings the total contract amount to $281,393.
Jail services
Correctional Healthcare of Colorado has provided nursing services for the 120-bed jail since 2010.
Commissioners also awarded a $516,526 bid to Lakeside Industries Inc. of Port Angeles for a supply of hot-mix and liquid asphalt.
The annual supply contract for road and trail projects includes a delivery cost of $1 per ton per mile, County Administrator Jim Jones said.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
