Deer Park council adopts updated airport forest stewardship plan

The Deer Park City Council unanimously approved an update to the Deer Park multiple airport forest stewardship plan at its Dec. 18, 2024 meeting.

Darrell, a city staff member who presented the update, said the plan is an update rather than a new document and covers 'over 800, close to 900 acres of timber area inside and outside the fence.' He identified the plan’s action recommendations on page 39 and said it 'kinda lays out the next 20 years of management for the timbered area.'

Council discussion focused on the practical results of previous harvests and the funding structure for future thinning. When asked whether commercial harvesting produces revenue for the city or costs the city covers, Darrell said the last commercial harvest was in 2011 and the city was 'paid somewhere in the neighborhood of 60, 70,000.' He added that in later years the city generally reinvested roughly $5,000 to $10,000 back into pre-commercial thinning work and described the current financing approach as a roughly 50/50 cost-share grant with the Department of Natural Resources for pre-commercial thinning.

After the presentation and brief questions, a councilmember moved to approve the stewardship plan; the motion was seconded and the council voted to adopt the plan.

What happens next: council-approved stewardship plans typically guide which stands are thinned or harvested and set priorities for wildfire mitigation and forest health on city-managed airport property. The plan itself, as the presenter noted, identifies specific stands and actions to be taken over the coming two decades.