State Rep. Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen
State Rep. Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen, is committed to going tit for tat with the Department of Natural Resources when it comes to the marbled murrelet.
The DNR recently announced its intention to amp up their efforts to protect the marbled murrelet, which is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. In response, Walsh has announced his intention to secure protections for timber economy dependent coastal communities that will be negatively impacted by those regulations.
Rep. Walsh says the changes in timberland policy would create significant economic hardship for constituents in Pacific, Wahkiakum and Clallam counties, in addition to other communities with significant logging operations. Walsh went so far as to call the changes to the Habitat Conservation Plan for the marbled murrelet “the second coming of the spotted owl,” in reference to Endangered Species protections enacted in the 1990s that are blamed by many for decimating the local timber industry.
In an effort to mitigate those impacts this time around, Walsh and Rep. Brian Blake, a Democrat from Aberdeen, have introduced House Bill 2300. That proposal would form a task force of community and government leaders dedicated to finding ways to secure economic relief and save jobs that rely on timber harvest revenue.
“The (Habitat Conservation Plan) for the spotted owl caused a great deal of economic harm to Southwest Washington, and frankly, to the entire state. This was largely swept under the rug by people with political agendas to push,” said Walsh in a press release. “This bill ensures the effects of the increased protections for the marbled murrelets don’t get swept under the same rug.”
The task force would have a number of objectives. First it would look at economic impacts associated with environmental protection of the marbled murrelet in coastal counties. The task force would also examine barriers to development in areas subject to those protections. Property tax burden shift caused by devaluation of land due to environmental protections would also be calculated, in addition to identifying activities that could improve the economic vitality of the impacted areas. Lastly, the task force would investigate issues related to “improved prosperity and government regulations connected to the marbled murrelet.”
The DNR manages more than 3 million acres of lands that produce non-tax revenue used to build public schools, universities, state mental hospitals, and help fund local services. Currently, the DNR has 583,000 acres set aside for conservation as marbled murrelet territory. Another 170,000 acres are up for consideration as part of the DNR’s long-term strategy.
A press release from the Washington State House Republicans office noted that in 1997, the DNR put an interim strategy in place to protect the marbled murrelet. In a report outlining their own work the DNR wrote that, “As a consequence of the HCP interim strategy, rural communities dependent on timber harvest have experienced serious loss of economic opportunities and revenues.”
Walsh has said that he anticipated the short-term plan would be amended once sufficient information was gathered. The press release noted that despite insistence from a bipartisan group of lawmakers to soften the impact to coastal communities the Board of Natural Resources recently set aside an additional 50,000 acres for protection in buffer sites.
The House Republicans estimate that within 50 years the changes enacted by the DNR would increase protected habitat areas to more than 306,000 acres and Walsh contends that the current protections exceed the federal standard.
“The process gets a bit convoluted on who exactly is doing what, why and when. But, the HCP is the state’s implementation of the federal Endangered Species Act. In the process of putting together this complicated plan, sometimes unintended consequences happen. And, very often, those consequences go unmeasured,” Walsh said, in a press release. “This bill creates a task force involving members of the Legislature, local governments and other agencies. Their purpose would be to find ways to minimize the unintended economic consequences or, at the very least, ensure those consequences get noticed.”
