WFPA - Washington Forest Protection Association

A recent public opinion survey found that 57% of Washington’s voters support the generation of power from biomass gathered from sustainably managed forests. Once voters are informed that two-thirds of all potentially available biomass renewable energy comes from forests, more than twice all agricultural and other sources of biomass combined, support goes to 70%.

Effective Jun. 30, 2009 the Dept. of Ecology has extended the Clean Water Act Assurances for Washington’s private forest landowners. The state’s Forests & Fish Law established an adaptive management program to continually monitor the impact of forest practices on fish habitat and water quality. Continuation of CWA assurances and the 50-year Endangered Species Act take-relief provided for under the Forest Practices Habitat Conservation Plan, provide the cornerstone stability in our forest practices system.

EPA has undertaken a process to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. The agency issued its final Tailroing Rule in May 2010, which treated emissions from biomass energy the same as those from fossil fuel combustion. Carbon emissions from organic plant and wood biomass is part of the natural carbon cycle. Emissions from fossil fuel increases carbon in the atmosphere and should be treated differently than biomass. While final requirements were set to go in place in 2011, after receiving more than 7,000 comments from the public, EPA made a decision to seek further indepentent scientific analysis before it develops rulemaking. In July 2011 EPA announced its plan to defer, for three years, greenhouse gas (GHG) permitting requirements for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from biomass-fired and other biogenic sources while it conducts a scientific assessment of emissions from biogenic carbon. In Oct. 2011 the EPA announced the formation of a Science Advisory Board Biogenic Carbon Emissions Panel to peer review its Accounting Framework for biogenic carbon emissions released in Sept. 2011. To follow the process click here.

Washington forest landowners practice sustainable forestry, and follow the most stringent laws in the nation. Third-party, voluntary forest certification systems, such as Sustainable Forestry Initiative, American Tree Farm Program, and Forest Stewardship Council, each have a process of verification that landowenrs meet sustainable forestry standards. Currently one of the green building programs called LEED only recognizes one forest certification standard. As demonstrated in this letter signed by 79 members of Congress, there is strong sentiment that LEED should not play favorites and recognize all, legitimate forest certfication systems.

The legislature adopted HB 2420 during the 2010 session which recognizes that the forest products industry plays a critical economic and environmental role in the state. The legislature finds that the state’s forest practices are sustainably managed according to the most stringent regtulations in the nation or world and the forest products industry is a vital part of the state’s green economy.

The forest products industry’s plans for protecting fish habitat and water quality is defined under the state’s Forests & Fish Law. One of the major efforts is a 15 year commitment to bring all of the older forest roads up to the high standards of new construction, called the Road Maintenance and Abandonment Plan (RMAP). In August, the State’s regulatory body, the Forest Practices Board recognized the unprecedented economic downturn and is in the process of extending the time-frame to 20 years. The work to date has opened up more than 2,300 miles of historic fish habitat. Results of a private forest roads survey show that 21% of large private forest landowners’ roads could potentially deliver runoff to a stream, and 73% of roads have a low likelihood of affecting streams, while the remaining 6% have been decommissioned.

The USFWS released its 2010 Final Revised Recovery Plan on June 30, 2011. The Recovery Plan acknowledges that securing habitat alone will not recover the spotted owl as the barred owl constitutes a significantly greater threat to spotted owl recovery than was envisioned when the spotted owl was listed in 1990. The Ten Year Synthesis of Monitoring and Research Results for Clinton’s NW Forest Plan reports that “the loss of habitat in Washington during the past 10 years is not a likely cause of the higher rate of population decline there, because the rates of habitat loss in Washington are lower than rates elsewhere where owl populations have been stationary.” The Service is expected to release its Proposed Designation of Critical Habitat Jan. 17, 2012. While the backbone of owl recovery is the 24.5 million acres of federal lands in Wash., Ore. and Calif., non-federal landowners are encouraged to make additional contributions to owl conservation through economic incentives. Private forest landowners are actively participating in a State Forest Practices Board process to develop market-based incentives to encourage non-federal landowners to make additional contributions to owl conservation. Non-federal landowners presently have developed owl conservation plans on more than 2 million acres in Washington State alone. See how the Northern Spotted Owl is protected in Washington State.

On Dec. 13 2011 the U.S. Supreme Court issued an order asking the Solicitor General for the views of the federal government on two petitions challenging the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling that forest roads are “point sources” requiring an industrial discharge permit under the Clean Water Act (CWA).

On August 17, 2010 the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled “that stormwater runoff from logging roads that is collected by and then discharged from a system of ditches, culverts, and channels is a point source discharge for which an (EPA) NPDES permit is required.” This decision was denied for rehearing May 17, 2011 by the Ninth Circuit. The Supreme Court has been petitioned, including a request by 26 State’s Attorney Generals as the decision overturns 35 years of categorizing forest roads as non-point activities under the 1976 Clean Water Act’s Silvicultural Rule. Private forest landowners in Washingtion have strong state-based rules to protect clean water under Road Maintenance and Abandonment Plan(RMAP) requirements. RMAPs are required by the Forests and Fish Law and designed to improve roads to protect water quality and fish habitat. Learn more at http://www.forestsandfish.com/.

The Legislature adopted HB 2541 in 2010, which directs the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to develop and consider market-based incentives, instead of solely regulation to meet environmental goals. DNR will develop proposals for the development of appropriate landowner conservation incentives that support forest landowners maintaining their land in forestry. The proposals will be presented to the governor, the appropriate committees of the legislature, the commissioner of public lands, and the forest practices board by Dec. 31, 2011.