Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
The state Department of Natural Resources sold logging rights in the Sherwood Forest to the Stella-Jones Corporation on May 23 as part of the Sure Wood Timber Sale.
According to a photo from Mason County Climate Justice’s Julianne Gale, Stella-Jones Corp. based in Tacoma had the highest bid for the timber at $3,622,843.50. Bell Timber Co. had the second-highest bid at $3,451,926.56 and the Murphy Co. had the third highest bid of $3,031,765.10.
“I’m deeply disappointed that the Department of Natural Resources, Commissioner Hilary Franz, and the Board of Natural Resources once again ignored public voices and the concerns of our community by going ahead with the timber auction,” Gale told the Journal in an email. “It’s outrageous that the shareholders of a multinational, multibillion-dollar corporation are getting rich at our expense. The problem with a nonlocal corporation is they have no accountability to our community. Stella-Jones Corp. could easily purchase timber from plantation stands to make their utility poles instead of clearcut logging an intact, biodiverse, mature forest next to residential homes. Their actions are unnecessarily destroying a local ecosystem and putting community safety at risk.”
Western Timber Co. out of Port Orchard bid $2,991,065, Manke Timber Co. of Shelton bid $2,510,441 and Sierra Pacific Industries out of Shelton bid the lowest at $2,228,236.07.
DNR filed a motion to dismiss the MCCJ and Legacy Forest Defense Coalition’s lawsuit about the Sure Wood sale. Mason County Superior Court set a hearing date for June 26 to consider the motion to dismiss. Mason County Climate Justice attorney Jennifer Calkins told the Journal she is preparing additional motions and briefing in light of the auctioning of Sure Wood and in response to the motion to dismiss.
“Seeing the cedar trees that were harvested by my ancestors gave me great pride in remembering the stories of the tree people and how they should be respected,” Squaxin Island tribal member Redwolf Krise told the Journal in an email. “But knowing that this forest is one of the last remaining forests around the Squaxin territory, where I can go and harvest from the same trees my ancestors harvested from is disheartening. Trees can live for hundreds of years, but yet there aren’t many left that are over 70 years old. It seems nobody respects the oldest souls on our planet much anymore. Once again, money is more important than life.”
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