DNR officials defend Dabbler timber sale, explain spotted-owl protections as council presses for pause

Duane Emmons, assistant deputy supervisor for State Uplands at the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, told the Clark County Council at a Feb. work session that the Dabbler timber sale was designed under the department's Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) and sold at auction for $5,100,000 to Stimson Lumber Company. Emmons said the sale spans three units with a net harvest area of about 140 acres and 16 acres designated as conservation or legacy-tree areas.

Why it matters: Clark County is a beneficiary of state trust lands and receives a share of timber-sale revenue that supports local taxing districts and school construction. Council members said they want a pause and a larger discussion about how structurally complex older forests near old growth are managed before harvest proceeds further.

Emmons said DNR manages lands under long-standing fiduciary duties and multiple conservation standards. "All of our lands in Western Washington ... are managed under a habitat conservation plan," Emmons said, referring to the 1997 HCP and its 2019 amendment for marbled murrelet protections. He told the council that DNR's approach includes contract clauses that require leaving legacy down logs and prohibits cutting trees more than 60 inches in diameter, and that the HCP requires leaving a minimum of eight leave trees per acre in harvest units.

Sale details and revenue: Emmons said the Dabbler sale sold at auction for $5,100,000 and that the sale encompasses three…