Bill To Ease Forest Regulation Finds Thicket Of Opposition Gop, Timber Industry Say Red Tape Needs To Be Loosened

A Republican House proposal to put timber profits above environmental regulations ran into a buzzsaw of protest Wednesday, but backers said the bill is needed to loosen red tape squeezing the industry.

“This bill takes us back to the dark ages … when agencies were suing other agencies” over the use and protection of timber, fish and wildlife, Judith Freeman, deputy director of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, told a House panel.

But Bill Jacobs, a top spokesman for the timber industry, called the measure, HB1286, a modest attempt at a balanced approach between the need to make a reasonable return on investment and protect the environment.

The measure, which got its first hearing before the House Natural Resources Committee, would place “timber and generation of income above the protection of the public resources,” said an analysis by the Department of Natural Resources.

“We are surprised at the intensity of the opposition to the bill and equally surprised that the bill has become so controversial,” said Jacobs, executive director of the Washington Forest Protection Association, the state’s biggest timber industry trade group.

He said the bill would rein in state timber regulators who have gone beyond the legislative mandate in regulating public and private timber harvests to protect the environment.

“It is time for the policy body of this state, the Legislature, to clarify the role and authority of the Department of Natural Resources and of the Forest Practices Board, a little-known body, yet with enormous regulatory power over private and state lands,” he said.

But Natural Resources Commissioner Jennifer Belcher, a former Democratic chairwomen of the committee to which she spoke, said the bill would destroy a nearly decadeold structure to deal with conflicts between timber and other interests - the Timber, Fish and Wildlife Agreement.

Billy Frank, chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, said the tribes have been willing participants in that agreement but might return to the courts to protect their resources if the measure prevails.

“We do not see protecting the salmon on any agenda here,” he said.

“The bill proposes major weakening of the Forest Practices Act through the redefinition of classes of forest practices” and would severely limit DNR and the Forest Practice Board’s power to regulate timber cutting, he said.

“It is important for people to understand that legislation such as this undermines the integrity of our forest resources in the interest of a quick buck,” Frank said.

But Dick Best, resource manager for the Murray Pacific Corp. in Tacoma, said the mounting cost of regulation, not a quick buck, is the real issue behind the debate.

“The cost of protecting public resources has grown tremendously in the past five years for private forest landowners. We are concerned about the trend and about the unpredictability of what’s next. We support the bill because it will give us more certainty about regulation and help us deal with escalating costs, while we continue to protect public resources,” he said.