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County officials, local foresters urge Forest Practices Board to drop proposed stream-buffer expansion
Summary
At a Cowlitz County workshop, foresters and residents urged the Forest Practices Board and Department of Ecology not to adopt a proposal to substantially expand buffers on small, non–fish-bearing streams, warning of long-term economic impacts and arguing the change would bypass the state's adaptive-management process.
County commissioners and local forestry stakeholders on Monday pressed state regulators to halt a proposal that would expand stream buffers on small, non–fish-bearing streams, saying the change would permanently remove timberland from productive use and reduce long-term tax revenue.
At a workshop, Wade Boyd, a longtime timber executive and county resident, urged the Board of County Commissioners to contact members of the Forest Practices Board and the Washington State Department of Ecology and oppose the rule. "There is no evidence that additional buffers are needed to protect small streams," Boyd said, urging officials to preserve the adaptive-management processes in the Forest and Fish agreement.
The concern is that Washington's Department of Ecology seeks to impose wider, permanent no-harvest strips…
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