Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Hikers explore Sherwood Forest.
The state Department of Natural Resources is scheduled to sell timber in the Sherwood Forest at 10 a.m. May 23 at the South Puget Sound Region Office in Enumclaw.
Mason County commissioners addressed the topic at their Monday briefing. Commissioners were asked by people attending the regular commission meeting May 9 to write a letter to the state DNR asking them to cancel or postpone the sale, known as the "Sure Wood Timber Sale." It appears unlikely the commission will write such a letter.
At Monday's briefing, Commissioner Randy Neatherlin, who said at the May 9 meeting that he lives near the Sherwood Forest, said he spoke with some of the people after the meeting and asked them to provide documentation that DNR had moved the sale forward without going through the proper process. He said he had not received such documentation.
"I never received anything, so I just want to let you know, I'm not requesting anything at this point," Neatherlin said during the briefing. "I want to believe people but they have to show me and since they were not able to give me documentation showing that it was changed, moved up or they were denied their rights, I can't ask the commission to do anything different than what we're already doing in regards to that."
Commissioner Kevin Shutty said one of the matters that disappointed him about the Mason County Climate Justice group was that it had filed a lawsuit a week prior to voicing its concerns at the commissioner's meeting.
"I'm not saying my comments would have been different Tuesday had I known there had been legal action taken by the group," Shutty said during the briefing. "I probably at this point would like to see that process play itself out before commenting any further or taking any further action as a legislative body."
Neatherlin said he found out about the lawsuit in the Journal and was disappointed to hear that. He also said the amount of money the school districts received from the timber sale was disputed by Mason County Climate Justice's Julianne Gale.
"I called the schools directly and then after that, I actually had another message that said they were wrong numbers, that it was greater than the amount they had said, that it was actually $198,000 plus more from the federal and then I'm positive because I sat and Jennifer (Beierle), our own staff, showed me the numbers and where it's at," Neatherlin said. "We circled it, went over, separated out the other numbers. This specifically was those timber trust dollars, that's a lot of money. I haven't changed either. ... I'm not asking for that. I'm sure they're out there listening, they need to know, you expect your representatives to do these type of things, you have to produce the documents to show us so that we can move forward to our other commissioners and have that discussion and we can't do it just on your say-so."
Commissioner Sharon Trask said she did watch DNR's process, hearings and listen to the testimonies from people in the room and she thought DNR "did a great job listening and the board did a good job in their decision."
"I do trust that they do their due diligence and make sure the public has the opportunity to respond and participate," Trask said. "So as far as DNR, I think DNR did their due diligence because that room was packed and I heard through their recordings and their meetings that people's voices were heard."
Sherri Dysart, a Mason County resident for 40 years who earned a degree in forest management from Washington State University, attended the May 9 commissioner's meeting and told the Journal the timber sale is a "needless destruction of a species-rich, carbon-dense, structurally complex forest ecosystem."
"There is evidence of an imperiled plant community in Unit 4 of the sale. Unit 4 also contains cedars that were culturally modified by the Squaxin Island tribal members in the past," Dysart said. "People who live in LakeLand Village and Trails End Lake communities will be directly impacted by the noise pollution, loss of soil stability, increased likelihood of flooding, impact on quantity and quality of water in the Sherwood Creek watershed, and loss of a respite of peace."
Gale told the Journal she lives in Mason County and intends to live in the county for the rest of her life.
"What happens in any part of our county affects all of us here," Gale told the Journal in an email. "I first heard about Sherwood Forest from my friends who grew up here and invited me to join them for walks in the forest. I have visited many times since then, and I hope to continue to enjoy Sherwood Forest for decades to come."
Gale said one of her biggest concerns about the timber sale is there is not enough time for county residents to learn about the risks faced from the proposed clearcutting. Some of her concerns include the lack of interest that she said she saw in public input displayed by the Board of Natural Resources and DNR, residents of the county living with adverse consequences of DNR's decision and a state agency preventing people from speaking up.
Those concerns are echoed by Legacy Forest Defense Coalition's Joshua Wright.
"The forest the DNR wants to log in the Sherwood timber sale are among the oldest, most structurally complex, and biodiverse forests remaining in the entire Sherwood Creek watershed, the watershed is over 20,000 acres yet less that 500 acres (2.5%) of the watershed is officially protected, and almost none of the oldest forests are protected," Wright wrote to the Journal.
"We are part of the Puget Lowland Ecoregion, an ecoregion that contains almost no old-growth forests, the forest targeted by the Sure Wood timber sale is our best opportunity to restore old growth habitat in the watershed, if we simply let them grow. People will say that Mason County has thousands of acres of old growth, and that's true, however, that old growth is entirely concentrated in the Olympic National Park and National Forest, none of it is in the lowlands of eastern Mason County. I don't want the lowlands to be a sacrifice zone for development. We need to protect our oldest forests so that our great grandchildren can have old growth forests in parts of the county that currently have none."
People can get involved to potentially stop the timber sale by signing the petition at http://www.wlfdc.org/sure-wood.
"These older forests are worth more standing, they are worth fighting for, Mason County is worth defending," Union resident Mike Scoblete told the Journal in an email. "I think a lot of us in Mason County are saying enough is enough."
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