DNR staff tell Clallam County advisory group litigation and inventory gaps are slowing timber sales and revenue

At a meeting of the Clallam County Revenue Advisory Committee, Department of Natural Resources (DNR) staff described how forest-practice permits, State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) reviews and lawsuits have delayed timber sales and reduced predictable revenue to trust beneficiaries.

DNR staff said many timber-sale applications enter the forest-practice review and SEPA checklist process early, and that the forest-practice board and separate regulatory specialists review applications independently of state-lands sales staff. "When we submit a forest-practice application, our decision is due 30 days," said Drew Rosenbaum, DNR staff. He added that applications are sometimes withdrawn and resubmitted after specialists request more information. "Most of the time if there are changes, it's very minor," Rosenbaum said.

Why it matters: timber-sale delays affect distributions to county beneficiaries and the workload of DNR staff.…