Seeing the forest through the trees
We want the lumber, not the jobs
Twelve years have passed since $351.4 million was spent on a project that removed two dams on the Elwha River. Now, Port Angeles Mayor Kate Dexter worries about the Elwha’s water availability, which is her city's primary water source. "None of us will exist if we don't have water," Dexter told Commissioners Johnson and French during the work session on May 28th (Commissioner Ozias was absent).
Last fall, the City of Port Angeles requested that over 3,000 acres of timberland managed by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) remain unharvested and be transferred to City management to protect its municipal water supply. In the City’s application, Manager Nathan West explained that sustaining a water supply has been challenging since removing the dams.
At Tuesday's work session, Mayor Dexter asked Commissioners Johnson and French to withdraw a letter that expressed the commissioners’ support for DNR placing those timber parcels on the harvest schedule.
Currently, the City of Port Angeles has not formulated a management plan for the 3,089 acres it is requesting to oversee, but that isn't the only criticism County leaders have. Those parcels are part of a junior taxing district that has generated considerable revenue for Clallam County and is expected to generate more. As a junior taxing district, part of the timber revenue would support our county's hospitals, fire districts, libraries, pools, and schools.
One beneficiary of that timber revenue, the Port Angeles School District, faced a $5 million funding gap last year. This spring, Port Angeles students missed a week of class due to a para-educator strike that sought a wage increase. With enrollment declining and wages rising, local schools are stretching dollars.
In a growing trend on the Olympic Peninsula, City of Port Angeles leaders are requesting a “pause” in deciding the timber parcels’ fate. The recent Elwha Power Plant sale was paused and eventually canceled; before that, the Aldwell timber sale was contested. According to the county’s Revenue Advisory Committee, the past two years of delayed timber sales have impacted nearly $4,000,000 in revenue for the County and junior taxing districts.
DNR has proven to be a responsible manager of forests in our state. The agency has restored fish barriers, developed trail networks like the Olympic Adventure Trail, and supplied forest products that are manufactured locally by companies like Interfor, Evergreen Fiber, and Port Angeles Hardwood.
Two Port Angeles sawmills purchase raw materials from DNR harvests to manufacture local lumber. Homes built with locally sourced materials not only lower transportation emissions but also combat already high housing costs compared to imported lumber. Locally sourced lumber could play an important role with proposed housing developments on the horizon, like the 194 homes intended for Carlsborg, the 97 homes planned south of Sequim, and the 600-home development proposed for Sequim Bay.
The City's proposal that 3,000+ acres remain unharvested represents about 1.5% of the entire Elwha River watershed area. The map below shows the Elwha Watershed (grey) and the 3,089 disputed acres (red).
In 2018, an environmental consultant group produced a Water Systems Plan for the City of Port Angeles that acknowledged ongoing timber harvest in the watershed will not threaten the water supply.
The report goes on to say that the removal of the Elwha Dams is likely to contribute to water shortages and reduce groundwater.
The City of Port Angeles has not presented any data showing that harvesting the parcels would decrease the city’s water supply. However, the forested parcels draw groundwater and transpire moisture that would otherwise run into the Elwha River watershed. Harvesting the parcels would likely increase the Elwha’s water supply — there seems to be no link between logging and decreased water in the Elwha River.
Needing lumber without wanting timber harvests is like last year’s successful attempt by one commissioner and county employee to thwart the reopening of a gravel pit in a county that needs gravel. Timber harvests and gravel pits have something else in common: they provide family-wage jobs in an economically depressed county. Those wages support our local economy when workers buy lunch at Country Aire in Port Angeles, animal feed at Agnew Grocery, and flowers at Leppell’s in Forks.
Randy Bartelt, a log buyer for Port Angeles Hardwood, says our local economy still depends on the timber industry. “We produce high-quality hardwood lumber for distribution throughout the world,” Bartelt explained. He said that 72% of their product goes to North America while the remaining 28% is exported to China and Vietnam.
“We employ 91 full-time employees at our facility in Port Angeles, and we have yearly wages and benefits in excess of six million dollars,” Bartelt told the Revenue Advisory Committee. “This year, our property taxes for Clallam County are now over $418,000. We are dependent on the continued operation of the lands close to our mill for us to stay competitive in a global environment.” Bartelt informed the Committee that the lack of affordable logs has already contributed to mills closing in Everett, South Bend, Arlington, Sedro-Woolley, Chehalis, and Longview.
In 2020, the Port of Port Angeles commissioned a report on the timber industry. The report concluded that the forest product industry had one of the highest job multipliers of any sector in Clallam County. The sector sustained 665 living-wage jobs that earned a monthly income 32% above the county’s average. Each of those jobs supported an additional 856 jobs, for a total of 1,521 jobs. The report found that the industry was the largest source of external revenues to the County, with $144 million in 2017.
When Port Angeles applied for the parcels to be transferred to city management, it was asked if there was any known opposition to the transfer. City Manager Nathan West stated there wasn’t, but he acknowledged junior taxing districts would lose revenue. He justified the lost revenue by explaining that “most of those districts depend on the long-term protection of the Elwha River water supply for their viability.”
The City’s application for the transfer called the loss of jobs “temporary” and the lack of timber revenue as “short term.” The City of Port Angeles is not a direct recipient of these parcels’ junior taxing district funds.
Our county's economy is on life support. Clallam's GDP is treading water while Jefferson County and Washington State outpace us. Local government leaders must understand that a “pause” on harvesting timber is a pause on money for schools, hospitals, pools, and emergency services. It’s also a pause on jobs and small businesses that generate our taxes. Leaders must decide whether our region will be one of “producers” who benefit from participating in a prosperous economy or one of “consumers” who subsist on grant dollars, government salaries, and handouts.
We’ve sent a message to businesses considering timber harvesting in our County: We might not let you harvest that timber as we agreed. That’s what happened to the Elwha Power Plant timber sale when environmental groups sued the DNR. That property became part of 2,000 acres across five counties that were moved into conservancy funded by the cap-and-trade program for carbon emissions. Friend of Clallam County Watchdog, Brandi Kruse, covered this on [un]Divided when she interviewed Heath Heikkila of the American Forest Research Council [timestamp 18:45].
Unless a plan is developed to build homes without lumber, preventing responsible timber harvests on the Peninsula encourages irresponsible harvesting practices elsewhere. That approach will drive up costs and contribute to the housing affordability crisis.
During Tuesday’s work session, Commissioner French asked Mayor Dexter, "What convinced you that logging activity was impacting the water supply?"
"Nothing convinced us,” admitted Mayor Dexter. “We said we have concerns that it might, and we'd like you to pause long enough for us to evaluate it," she continued. "This parcel is really close to the Elwha watershed." Dexter was frustrated that DNR had not communicated with the city apart from one “condescending” email.
Commissioner French countered Mayor Dexter. "People start with an assumption that logging damages the water source — not well founded; science doesn't support that," he said. "Your own water plan says industrial logging has had no impact. The County has discussed this with DNR and determined there is no threat, and logging could increase water quantity into the river. I'm not at all convinced that the logging activity has any impact on the water source." French further explained that the parcel is high-performing and perfectly situated near local mills.
Mayor Dexter disagrees with the DNR's assessment: "I don't expect DNR to listen to other scientists, but I think it is — I'm not — I don't know what it would take to convince me, but I also find it frustrating that you all got that communication when we were asking for it and we didn't get it."
Commissioner Johnson explained that some studies might be found to support Dexter’s theory, “But I see most of them don't believe that this would affect your water supply at all." Johnson explained that the trust land transfer, the vehicle by which the city has requested management of the parcels, simply does not apply to this situation. Trust land transfers are reserved for underperforming forests, not prime timberland near mills. "The trust land transfer process just does not meet the criteria that you came forward with," said Commissioner Johnson.
Both County Commissioners declined to withdraw their letter supporting DNR’s intent to harvest the parcels. They also declined to take a neutral stance; however, they agreed to ask DNR to include the City of Port Angeles in future communications about forests near their water supply.
"If you're going to say 'no' to everything else, a willingness to include that would be appreciated," said Mayor Dexter.
Note: Port Angeles Mayor Kate Dexter is currently running for the Clallam County Commissioner District 2 seat against current County Commissioner Randy Johnson.
I see some similarities between Towne Road and this issue.
Commissioner Ozias halted Towne Road because he had "hundreds of signatures" wanting it closed and only one phone call wanting the road to stay open (people weren't calling Ozias because nobody knew he was about to pull the plug on the project). In City Manager Nathan West's trust land transfer application, he said the office had received thousands of messages asking for the parcels to remain unharvested but no messages supporting the harvest of timber (again, why contact local government about something that has been communicated as being a done deal). It's a disingenuous way to collect and present data when building a case.
“Twelve years have passed since $351.4 million was spent on a project that removed two dams on the Elwha River. Now, Port Angeles Mayor Kate Dexter worries about the Elwha’s water availability, which is her city's primary water source.”
I love seeing more transparency in our news recently. The elephant in the room here is the fact that two dams were knocked down that held the major water storage for the city of Port Angeles.
I’m convince that the extreme environmentalist just want to wipe humans off the map.