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Council members recap DNR trust-lands tour; discuss land-swap and conservation options
Summary
Councilors and staff recapped a Department of Natural Resources tour of trust lands in northeast Clark County and discussed potential land-swap conservation, revenue impacts and the need for more transparency on carbon accounting.
In public comment, Tanya Inger told the council the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) did not provide project-specific carbon emissions data for proposed timber sales and urged the county to press DNR for transparency and to pursue Nationally Determined Contributions (NCS) land-swap carbon funding.
Jordan Bogie summarized a council field tour of DNR-managed trust lands in northeast Clark County. Bogie said DNR staff described harvest-planning timelines (typically about five years), habitat-conservation strategies and different harvest methods including thinning and variable-retention logging. He said DNR manages some lands on longer rotations, producing timber types used for different markets than short-rotation industrial timber.
Councilors noted the governor's protective order covering roughly 77,000 acres statewide and said DNR identified about 4,800 of those acres within Clark County. Councilor Little said she was disappointed that the Turnover sale—classified as "maturation 2" in the presentation—was not paused, but welcomed DNR engagement and the county being considered for a pilot land-swap program. The swap program would conserve lands at risk of conversion in exchange for managing other trust lands under DNR rules so that beneficiaries (local taxing districts) remain whole financially.
Councilors discussed creating beneficiary advisory committees so junior taxing districts could anticipate timber-sale revenue changes. Bogie and councilors said DNR staff spent significant time planning the tour and that the trip improved county understanding of timber management trade-offs, habitat protections and potential carbon and recreation strategies.
No formal county action was taken Sept. 17; councilors asked staff to continue engagement with DNR and to explore land-swap options and beneficiary coordination.
