State guidance on 'site potential tree height' figures in Whitman County stream buffer discussion
Consultant Dan Nickel explained Department of Fish and Wildlife guidance that recommends using 'site potential tree height' to set riparian buffers where soils/mapping exist and a 100-foot minimum elsewhere; commissioners asked how that approach applies in largely non-forested Whitman County.
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At the March 4 workshop, consultant Dan Nickel briefed commissioners on Department of Fish and Wildlife guidance proposing 'site potential tree height' as a basis for riparian buffers instead of traditional stream typing. He said mapped soils in Whitman County contain limited areas with a tree-height index, meaning much of the county would fall back to a 100-foot minimum buffer where the mapping is absent.
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