OLYMPIA — An expansion of Devils Lake Natural Resources Conservation Area south of Quilcene is second in a ranked list of 10 priorities approved by the state Board of Natural Resources to be transferred into conservation or recreation management.
The decision made Tuesday in Olympia is part of a pilot project to revitalize the Trust Land Transfer tool, according to a Department of Natural Resources (DNR) press release.
DNR will submit the ranked list of properties, which come from 10 different counties across the state, to the Office of Financial Management and the Governor’s Office as part of agency requests for the next legislative session.
The total of 7,033 acres of land in the 10 counties are proposed to be transferred to public agencies, including DNR’s Natural Areas program, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Washington State Parks and county governments. The transfers will require funding from the Legislature before they can be completed.
The 415-acre Devils Lake parcel, ranked second after a 707-acre property north of Kingston in Kitsap County called the Eglon property, would be transferred from DNR’s trust lands to DNR’s Natural Areas program and added to the existing Devils Lake Natural Resources Conservation Area.
The property contains a rare forested plant community and a mile of Puget Sound shoreline, and about 70 percent of it not suitable for timber harvest due to buffers protecting clean water and unstable slopes, DNR said, adding that no road or trail access is available to the parcel.
The conservation area, which was dedicated in 2002, is 80 acres and includes the lake, wetlands, bog and the forests around the area, which has developed old growth characteristics thanks to its ability to survive multiple forest fires, according to a DNR proposal given to Jefferson County commissioners in 2016.
The Devils Lake expansion would put the boundary right up to Quilcene Bay.
The Trust Land Transfer tool is designed to transfer lands that don’t produce expected amounts of revenue and provide important ecological values or public benefits.
If funded by the Legislature, DNR said it will transfer these lands to public agencies for conservation or recreation purposes and then replace them with lands better suited to generate money to support school construction and local governments.
“We have a responsibility to ensure that Washington state’s public lands are providing the greatest environmental, social, and economic good,” said Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz, in the release.
“The revitalized Trust Land Transfer tool will be a critical device to ensure environmental equity while allowing for more efficient management of state lands for present and future generations.”
DNR generates more than $250 million each year through the management of trust lands, which are required to generate revenue to support schools, colleges and critical local services across Washington state.
That revenue comes from sustainable forest management, agricultural leases, clean energy leases, commercial real estate leases, and, soon, carbon credits.
Beneficiaries, tribes, industry and conservation groups have worked with DNR staff for more than a year to create the pilot project.
Since 1989, Trust Land Transfers have conserved nearly 126,000 acres, but only about 56,000 acres have been added back through the tool to support funding for K-12 school construction.
DNR said it also is exploring the expansion of the tool to include state forestlands, which support local services like hospitals, school districts and libraries in nearly every western Washington county.
Other properties in the priority list, after those in Kitsap and Jefferson counties are, in ranked order:
• Upper Dry Gulch property, Chelan County, a 3,023-acre parcel east of Wenatchee.
• Chapman Lake property, Spokane County, a 542-acre parcel south of Cheney.
• Morning Star property, Snohomish County, a 1,071-acre parcel north of Gold Bar.
• West Tiger property, King County, a 99-acre parcel that would be added to the West Tiger Natural Resources Conservation Area.
• Lake Spokane Campground property, Stevens County, a 305-acre recreation site managed by Washington State Parks through a lease agreement with DNR which would be transferred to State Parks to allow that agency to add the land to Riverside State Park.
• Blakely Island property, San Juan County, a 184-acre parcel on the western edge of Blakely Island.
• Moses Lake Sand Dunes property, Grant County, a 647-acre parcel south of Moses Lake.
• Rustler’s Gulch property, Pend Oreille County, a 40-acre parcel in the southwest corner of Pend Oreille County which is surrounded on all sides by the Rustler’s Gulch unit of the Fish and Wildlife’s Sherman Creek Wildlife Area.
