Fighting for the Destiny of the Dabbler
Photos courtesy of Joshua Wright of Legacy Forest Defense Coalition
If you’re a regular FOCC supporter and/or you attended our recent forum on forests, chances are you know all about the Dabbler legacy forest timber sale. But, for those of you who don’t know, here is the long and short of it:
For months, FOCC rallied our local community around saving the Dabbler units of 135 acres of structurally complex and naturally regenerated forest in the Siouxon Creek area of Clark County from being sold off for logging by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). We partnered closely with folks from the Legacy Forest Defense Coalition (LFDC), who specialize in fighting these sales statewide, to learn about the DNR’s responsibilities as the manager of county trust lands and its relationship to the trust beneficiaries. What we learned is that Clark County, the main beneficiary of the Dabbler timber sale, could direct the DNR to halt the sale and manage its trust land differently going forward. FOCC also joined a lawsuit alongside LFDC appealing the sale.
All of this movement, however, took place leading up to election season. FOCC and partners (shoutout to Vancouver Washington Forest Keepers) brought the issue to the attention of the last iteration of the Clark County Council, who directed their staff to draw up a letter to the DNR requesting to stop the Dabbler sale, but former Chair Gary Medvigy changed his position last minute so the effort failed. At the same time, now Washington Commissioner of Public Lands, Dave Upthegrove, was running a campaign explicitly on a platform of protecting DNR-managed legacy forest from logging.
Unfortunately, former Commissioner of Public Lands, Hilary Franz, and the Board of Natural Resources were able to garner enough votes for the sales of dozens more legacy forests on her way out the door, despite the people having had spoken very clearly with the election of Upthegrove, who represented a new direction for the DNR. Our precious Dabbler was included in one of those final Franz sales.
But, FOCC did not give up! We joined Legacy Forest Defense Coalition (LFDC) in a lawsuit appealing the Dabbler timber sale. On top of this, with a new Clark County Council and the Dabbler auction date not until January 30th, we had another shot at a letter to the DNR. FOCC Board member, Mary Goody, wrote a letter on behalf of FOCC asking the Council for urgent movement to save the Dabbler that was signed additionally by the local Alliance for Community Engagement (ACE), the Sierra Club, and the Vancouver Audubon Society, which you can review here:
With so many issues on their plate as a brand new Council, Councilors demonstrated true leadership by moving swiftly to save the Dabbler in the 11th hour—in recognition of their constituents’ wishes. They unanimously approved and sent a formal request to Commissioner Upthegrove on January 15th for postponement of the Dabbler sale, and asked for a conversation about conserving Clark County’s older forests going forward. The language in this letter was powerful:
“Clark County sits at the western foothills of the Cascades near the area impacted by the 1902 Yacolt Burn and contains very few remaining legacy forest resources. The proposed Dabbler sale area contains structurally complex naturally regenerated forests that are approaching old growth and therefore highly valued by our community. Not only do these remnants of our original forests provide wildlife habitat, promote watershed health, and mitigate climate impacts, but they provide public recreation and economic opportunities beyond the dollars generated through harvest alone.”
However, our celebration was short-lived. Outrageously, the Dabbler went to auction anyway, despite a formal request for postponement from the trust beneficiaries, widespread local opposition to the sale, and an active lawsuit underway.
Joshua Wright from LFDC explained in an email to Chair Marshall, “Clark County is the main beneficiary of the Dabbler timber sale, so DNR is in the wrong for ignoring the counties request. They have delayed multiple other timber sales at the request of counties, including King County and Thurston County.” Furthermore, attorney Alicia LeDuc Montgomery (representing LFDC and FOCC in the Dabbler case) explained in a news article that the DNR can easily swap out the legacy forest acreage for other land that is not structurally complex as a way to comply with the law, better practice timber harvesting, and fund the beneficiaries.
After weeks of silence, Commissioner Upthegrove sent out a blanket email to constituents claiming his hands were tied to stop the logging of the Dabbler. The same day, his staff at DNR went above and beyond in the other direction, giving special approval to Stimson Lumber Company to begin logging the Dabbler forest right away—blatantly ignoring the community and the legal process that was already underway. In recent days, Stimson started cutting and was able to take out 7 irreplaceable acres.
LFDC and FOCC moved quickly after getting word of the logging operations, filing for a temporary restraining order to prevent the DNR and Stimson from ensuring the case would be moot before having our day in court. We won that battle on February 26th! A Clark County judge has now entered a restraining order against DNR— immediately halting all logging operations in the Dabbler forest until March 24th, when FOCC and LFDC will argue our motion for a preliminary injunction to the court.
We must emphasize that Commissioner Upthegrove is in the wrong for ignoring the tools at his disposal to save the legacy forests he promised to protect. Letting the Franz sales slide does not meet the moment nor bode well for the people’s confidence in his leadership so early in his tenure. The fact remains that the DNR retains control over its contracts and has statutory authority to modify or cancel the terms of timber sale contracts to comply with the law—which, again, means they have the power to both save the Dabbler and fund the beneficiaries of the sale. What persists is the political unwillingness to use that power, so we will have to keep fighting in court until they are forced to.
Time is of the essence, and during the climate emergency, we have everything to lose by accepting this apparent short-sighted compromise. You can help at this juncture by chipping in or sharing LFDC’s Go Fund Me to cover litigation costs going forward: https://gofund.me/d4e1dcc0