PORT ANGELES — Port of Port Angeles commissioners will hear the results of a $10,000 economic study of the Wild Olympics Campaign on Monday.
Commissioners will hear the report at the meeting that begins at 9:30 a.m. at 338 W. First St.
Port commissioners commissioned the $10,000 study to determine how a transfer of potentially thousands of acres of timber to Olympic National Park would affect the number of jobs available on the Olympic Peninsula.
Dan Underwood, who teaches economics and environmental science at Peninsula College, and Jason Cross of the Olympic Natural Resources Center in Forks were hired to create the study.
Commissioners have said they will not support anything that would cost a net job loss.
Wild Olympic proposal
In the Wild Olympics Campaign, a coalition of conservation and recreation groups are proposing a long-term series of purchases that could add 37,000 acres of wilderness areas, 450 miles of wild and scenic-designated rivers, and 134,000 acres of other wilderness additions to the Olympic Peninsula.
The coalition of environmental groups forming Wild Olympics are Olympic Park Associates, Olympic Forest Coalition, Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society, the North Olympic Sierra Club group and the national Sierra Club, American Rivers, American Whitewater, Washington Wilderness Coalition, The Mountaineers and the Pew Environment Group.
According to the plan, parcels of land purchased under a “willing seller” agreement over the next 40 years could become additions to Olympic National Park and other wilderness designations with the approval of the U.S. Congress.
Wild Olympics leadership is currently working to draft a bill to present to Congress for consideration.
Timber industry representatives have voiced the concern that removing thousands of acres of private timber lands would damage the industry on the Olympic Peninsula.
Loss of jobs?
A North Olympic Timber Action Committee study said the proposal could cause the loss of as many as 226 jobs and up to $4 million in tax revenue for local governments.
The committee offered a counterproposal that would increase the acreage available for timber harvesting
The thoroughness of the port’s study has been questioned by a representative of the Wild Olympics Campaign.
Jim Gift, conservation co-chairman of the Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society, said in statement that the study has a narrow scope of study, ignores trends of the private development of timberland, assumes all properties would be acquired at one time and does not consider the effect on nontourism and nontimber industries and jobs.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
