County timber revenue good--for now

With the first round of the 2012 budgeting process coming soon, Wahkiakum County got the good and bad news from the State Department of Natural Resources on Tuesday.

The good news is that the county will receive almost $600,000 more this year from the sale of timber from county trust timber land.

The bad news is that, as Treasurer Paula Holloway said, "That money is gone." It will be used to fill a hole created by reductions in the state criminal justice funding.

Trust timber revenue was budgeted at $1.2 million for 2011, and the county will receive close to $1.8 million, said Steve Ogden, the DNR's regional supervisor. The agency generally sells trust timber on two-year contracts, and the purchaser of the Rattler sale had logged it as soon as possible to take advantage of good prices.

The county had hoped to have some of the Rattler sale revenue in 2012. Instead, Ogden said, the county can expect about $1.1 million in 2012.

At this point, Ogden added, sales scheduled for 2013 and beyond total only an estimated $992,728. Ogden said he understands the importance of the revenue to the county and he will do what he can to provide sufficient revenue.

Commissioners Lisa Marsyla, Dan Cothren and Blair Brady said they appreciated the efforts of Ogden and others in the DNR's Castle Rock office.

However, Cothren added, he and other commissioners are less satisfied with higher level administrators. The agency is caving into environmental groups pressing for preservation of older stands with large trees as habitat for endangered marbled murrelets, a shorebird which flies inland for nesting.

Cothren said the Washington Association of Counties, on behalf of Wahkiakum, Pacific and Skamania counties, has sent a letter to Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark and the board of natural resources reminding them of the agency's fiduciary responsibility for the timber trusts. The land is to be managed for the benefit of the trust beneficiaries, the letter says, and if the state and federal government are going to restrict use of county trust, the county needs to be compensated.

"They (the DNR) needs to stand up to the environmentalists," Cothren said. "We're going to get hammered with this."