Swaps fall into three categories

The majority of the Department of Natural Resources proposed land-exchange deals on the east slope of Washington’s central Cascades are in three categories:

DNR and DFW

Proposal: DNR wants to exchange roughly 120,000 acres of its sparsely timbered shrub-steppe lands near Ellensburg and Yakima for roughly 50,000 acres of timberlands owned by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Issues: WDFW has lost funding to continue leasing about 125,000 acres from DNR, mostly checkerboard ownership throughout seven Central Washington wildlife areas that are critical winter range for species such as elk and mule deer. If DNR sells or leases those lands for development, WDFW would no longer be able to manage access to prevent harassment of these animals during winter and spring when they need to be left alone.

Background: “We’ve become painfully aware that leasing to us wasn’t in DNR’s long range plans,” said Mark Quinn, Washington Fish and Wildlife Department land division manager in Olympia. “When someone comes along and offers them more money, they’re obliged to consider it. We had lands leased out from under us. If we’re paying $600 a year for a section and somebody offers DNR $10,000 so they can build a golf course, we’re out the door.”

Negotiating the land exchanges has been slowed for lack of funding for the timber cruising, title searches, appraisals and other state requirements that must be met before exchanges can occur.

The public has shown little interest in the two agencies swapping lands to get out of the checkerboard ownerships the two agencies share. “People figured it was all state land, so what’s the problem?” Quinn said.

The difference is that DNR must manage for profit while WDFW is charged to manage for wildlife habitat.

About 90 percent of the DNR and WDFW lands identified for an interagency swap is in Kittitas and Yakima counties involving important and popular wildlife areas such as the Colockum, L.T. Murray and Oak Creek wildlife areas.

To a lesser extent, exchanges also are being negotiated involving Chief Joseph, Methow, Sinlahekin, Columbia Bain and Swanson Lakes wildlife areas.

“The exchange would give both agencies more management certainty,” Quinn said. But wildlife depends on timberlands as well as shrub-steppe lands, and that makes it difficult for WDFW officials to give up those forested lands without close scrutiny.

What’s next: If appraisals of WDFW lands can be completed before winter, exchanges could begin next spring. Public meetings would be held in Yakima and Kittitas counties. Public access should not be significantly changed, although seasonal road closures to protect wintering wildlife would be more likely under WDFW management.

DNR and WPT

Proposal: DNR wants to block up east slope lands by exchanging 20,000-25,000 acres of scattered parcels for 80,000-90,000 acres of former Boise-Cascade timberland being offered for exchange or purchase by Western Pacific Timber.

Issues: To generate the equity, DNR would have to exchange roughly 37,000 acres in scattered DNR parcels generally in Chelan, Clark, Cowlitz, Douglas, Grays Harbor, Kittitas, Klickitat, Lewis, Pend Oreille, Spokane, Stevens, Thurston and Yakima counties. This opens the exchanges to more opposition. These options are changing on daily basis as appraisals and negotiations continue. Costs are high for required appraisals and timber cruising.

Background: Currently all of WPT’s 200,000 acres in Washington are being managed for timber production, said owner Tim Blixseth. But that could change.

“The Washington lands are varied in nature and we are currently evaluating all of our lands to determine their best long-term use,” Blixseth said.

“Our Washington operations run quite smoothly and we have reduced the timber cut by more than two-thirds of the former Boise annual timber cutting. The land had been logged quite heavily and I felt it needed a few years to grow with minimal cutting. We are now into the ‘gardening’ years of the lands.”

Asked whether he has identified any of WPT land in Washington that will be off limits to public access, Blixseth said, “All lands are private of course but we are fairly liberal on hunting and winter activities for public use. If any one year is a severely bad fire year all lands will be closed until the fire season passes.”

However, Fish and Wildlife Department officials said that 60,000 acres of Western Pacific Timber in Klickitat County east of Goldendale have been closed to public hunting.

Blixseth has been agreeable to offering considerable land for exchange to DNR.

“The exchange process with the state so far has been one of the very best I have encountered,” he said. “I know that the elk habitat is quite good on our lands and it has totally influenced my decision to trade those lands to the state to preserve their habitat,” Blixseth said. “I have an intense love for wildlife and will do my small part to preserve their habitat.”

Although he no longer hunts, Blixseth said, “I grew up a poor kid on welfare (in Roseburg, Ore.) whose family job each year was to supply the family with deer and elk meat.”

What’s next: The proposed exchanges depend on DNR’s on-going effort to appraise and liquidate roughly 37,000 acres scattered in about 14 counties. Public meetings will be held, probably in late summer, to present those options.

DNR and others

DNR also is negotiating land exchanges west of Yakima involving about 8,900 acres in checkerboard ownership with Shawn Monte Timber Company and 4,400 acres with Ahtanum Irrigation District.