DNR: County may expect $1 million in annual revenue for three years

Wahkiakum County government should expect to see about $1 million per year for the next three years in revenue off state managed county trust timber land.

The revenue from the timber sales is a major part of the revenue for the county's Current Expense Fund, which funds most courthouse offices.

Steve Ogden, regional manager for the state Department of Natural Resources, reported to the board of county commissioners on Tuesday that the agency has plans to offer timber sales that should generate that level of revenue.

The county received $1.3 million in 2010 and $1.8 million in 2011. The county should receive $1.09 million in 2012 and $1.1 million in 2013. A timber sale being planned for 2014 would generate an estimated $1.15 million.

Ogden said markets are showing enough recovery that thinning sales are becoming possible again, and that will help with the production planned for 2013.

Commissioner Dan Cothren asked if it would be possible for the agency to slightly increase the acerage in the sales in order to boost the revenue.

Ogden replied that he had already done that, and that he wanted to be careful about harvesting revenue producing trees earlier than they should be so that the county has a sustained yield.

"We have to be real careful about what we take off the sustained yield land base," he said.

Ogden commented that the price for wood is low but remaining fairly stable, around $300 per thousand board feet.

Commissioner Dan Cothren commented that the export market will continue to play an important role in timber prices. Exports to China may decline, but Japan will remain a "huge market for export," he said.

Commissioner Blair Brady commented that the agency would be able to log more if some 3,000 of the county's 12,000 acres of timber weren't locked up as potential habitat for marbled murrelets while the agency works on a habitat conservation plan that will please fish and wildlife agencies.

Former district manager Eric Wish, now working in the DNR's Olympia offices, reported that the agency and Board of Natural Resources have committed to a fast paced development of the plan.