PORT ANGELES — The Clallam County Trust Lands Advisory Committee will expand its membership as it begins to examine state management of county trust lands.
In its first meeting Friday, the committee voted to ask the board of county commissioners to enlarge the panel from 16 to 20 members.
It also voted to offer the new seats to local branches of the Sierra Club and Audubon Society, Olympic Medical Center and city of Port Angeles, all of which have expressed an interest in participating.
County commissioners are expected to discuss the request at their Monday work session.
Last summer, the elected Charter Review Commission voted 10-4 to send a letter to commissioners recommending a trust lands committee to address the reconveyance of state Department of Natural Resources trust lands back to the county for management.
The July 6 letter said the group should examine the “history, issues, benefits, challenges of reconveyance.”
If reconveyance is found to be not in the county’s best interest, the committee was tasked to engage DNR on how it is fulfilling its trust obligations to the county, its citizens and junior taxing districts that rely on timber sales to fund schools, hospitals, libraries and fire districts.
A catalyst for the effort is arrearage, a legal term used to describe timber that DNR identified for sale but did not sell in the past decade.
County Commissioners Jim McEntire and Bill Peach voted to form the committee Sept. 15.
Commissioner Mike Chapman voted no, saying DNR is doing a good job managing trust lands and is working to correct arrearage.
The group was asked to prepare a report for the board of county commissioners by the end of next year.
Members include representatives from the environmental community, timber industry, political parties, junior taxing districts, granges and a ranking DNR official.
Draft work plan
Former county Commissioner Mike Doherty, who served on the Charter Review Commission, recommended that the trust lands committee defer a draft work plan for at least a month.
“This is a major issue,” Doherty said.
“It’s all about private timber, public timber . . . just a lot of big issues. And some of it is grounded in [the] Forest Practices Act and how the current managers do whatever they do within the constraints of the law.”
“To me, learning about those sorts of background issues is very important before we get this rush to conveyance,” Doherty added.
“And I’ll tell you, having been on the Charter Review Commission, there was a rush to get there.”
By the end of the meeting, the ad hoc committee had agreed to include in next month’s session a briefing from DNR Deputy Supervisor for State Uplands and committee member Kyle Blum about the nuts and bolts of arrearage and other trust land issues.
Meetings in February and March will include discussions on the restrictions placed on timber harvests and legal issues surrounding forest management.
Calculations
Clallam County hired former Commissioner Phil Kitchel to prepare information for the committee.
Peach, who convened Friday’s meeting, offered to share his own calculations on arrearage.
Meanwhile, Joe Murray, a professional forester representing the Society of American Foresters, was appointed as chair of the Trust Lands Advisory Committee.
Murray received eight votes to Bob Lea’s six votes in the nomination process.
Lea, a retiree who was appointed by Chapman, was named vice chair.
Forks City Attorney and Planner Rod Fleck was appointed as secretary.
Murray, Lea, Fleck and Blum will serve on an executive committee for the full panel.
Members agreed to meet on the third Friday of the month.
Meetings will begin at noon in Room 160 of the Clallam County Courthouse, 223 E. Fourth St., Port Angeles.
________
Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
