Hvad er fremtiden for Washingtons skove? Truet marmoreret murrelet havfugl fanget i kamp

Ingen er glade for de seneste planer for Washingtons skovområder.

Ikke miljøforkæmpere.

"Umodigt, sagde Peter Goldman, en advokat ved Washington Forest Law Center.

Ikke træindustrien, der forudser mistede job.

Ikke de lokale embedsmænd, hvis økonomier og budgetter er afhængige af træindtægter.

"Dobbelt pudsighed, " sagde Rod Fleck, Forks' byadvokat.

Fanget i larm er den marmorerede murrelet, en lynlås, fugl på størrelse med robin, der tilbringer tid i kystnære farvande og rede i Washingtons skove.

Uanset hvad embedsmænd vælger til skoven, havfuglene er sandsynligvis planlagt til mindst et årti med tilbagegang, efter bestandsmodeller i den endelige plan for deres bevaring. Havforhold, tilgængelighed af bytte, menneskelig aktivitet og tab af levesteder er blandt faktorer, som forskere mener, spiller en rolle.

Den marmorerede murrelet har brug for tykke trægrene i moden skov for at opfostre sine unger.

Årtier med logning og udvikling på føderal, statslige og private lande har efterladt fuglen med spredte pletter af førsteklasses Washington-skov, der er egnet til rede. Forskere siger, at de har brug for mere.

Men deres levested er også velegnet til skovhugst. Og i mange landdistrikter, indtægter fra tømmersalg hjælper med at opretholde lokale institutioner, som branddistrikter, sætter den marmorerede murrelet i centrum for en årtier lang kamp om, hvor og hvor meget skovhugst der finder sted i statsstyrede skove.

Ved statsdannelse i 1889, den føderale regering gav Washington mere end 3 millioner acres til økonomisk at støtte nogle offentlige institutioner, som skoler og universiteter.

Afdelingen for Naturressourcer forvalter resterende tillidsjord. Indtægter fra tømmersalg til skovhugstvirksomheder giver stadig nogle grundskoler og universitetsfinansiering i dag.

DNR administrerer også trustjord, som amter modtog i depressionstidens skattetvangsauktioner. Amter og mindre skattemyndigheder som lokal skole, brand- eller biblioteksdistrikter modtager træindtægter fra disse jorder.

I dele af det landlige Washington, tømmersalg er med til at holde lyset tændt på disse institutioner. DNR balancerer selv sit budget med træindtægter.

Kritikere som Goldman hævder at finansiere statslige kernefunktioner med tømmer er en "19. århundredes mentalitet."

Men agenturet mener, efter retsafgørelser og juridisk rådgivning fra Attorney General's Office, at det er lovpligtigt at maksimere indtægterne.

DNR skal også følge statslige og føderale love, ligesom loven om truede arter, som angiver den marmorerede murrelet som truet.

Disse konkurrerende interesser lader agenturet balancere træinteresser og miljøhensyn.

I december, fire af seks bestyrelsesmedlemmer for naturressourcer godkendte en bevaringsstrategi for marmorerede murre og sænkede det bæredygtige tømmerhøstniveau på statsjorder i de næste 10 år.

Beslutningen gav klarhed for fuglens helbredelse, efter 22 år under en midlertidig plan.

Planen lægger yderligere 37, 000 acres DNR-land i bevaringsstatus for murrelet.

Styrelsens plan bygger på, at unge træer i nyligt beskyttede områder vokser til levested for fuglen. Efterhånden som de vokser, DNR vil gradvist frigive nogle områder med modne træer - det nuværende murrelet-habitat - for at blive logget.

Områder, hvor murrelets lever nu, ville have buffere til at beskytte levesteder. klippesprængning, nybyggeri og vejbygning ville ikke være tilladt i nærheden af ​​murrelet-habitat, med nogle undtagelser.

Planen udpeger også 20 særlige habitatområder, hvilket ville gøre det muligt for agenturet at koncentrere "bevarelse i habitatblokke" fra det, der nu er en "spredning, " sagde Andrew Hayes, DNRs afdelingsleder for skovressourcer.

Hayes sagde, at den marmorerede murrelet vil have 272, 000 acres egnet levested på 50 år, omkring 65, 000 acres mere end i dag. (Goldman hævder, at arealforøgelsen i det væsentlige er en vask, fordi planens habitatkvalitet varierer over tid.) Planen frigør også mere end 150, 000 acres til skovhugst, sagde Hayes.

En repræsentant for guvernør Jay Inslee stemte imod planen, saying the governor felt it was not protective enough in the face of climate change.

Clallam County Commissioner Bill Peach opposed it also, warning the decision to lower harvest targets could stress timber communities and DNR's budget.

Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz said the approval paved the way for "more significant challenges in front of us, " including adaptation to climate change as Washington's population grows and natural resources yield less.

From nearly every angle, the plan faces criticism.

"It divides the baby right down the middle, " sagde Goldman, representing several environmental groups. "They feel they made a legally and politically safe position."

Goldman is disappointed that DNR will open 38, 000 acres of current marbled murrelet habitat to logging, believes the agency sought only minimum protection under the ESA and lacked the "vision" to ask for more.

"This is for a species declining at 4% a year and has all kinds of threats to forests and oceans, herunder klimaændringer, " Goldman said.

Paula Swedeen, of Conservation Northwest, pointed out that DNR's modeling projects murrelet populations will decline for several decades under the plan and in 50 years have a population lower than it is today.

I mellemtiden the timber industry promises job losses.

The board set a sustainable harvest figure that averages 465 million board feet each year, 85 million less than the previous decade's mark, a volume DNR did not ultimately supply. Hayes said sustainable harvest levels are expected to drop over the next five decades.

"You just can't pull that much volume out of the marketplace without having some kind of economic impacts, " said Matt Comisky, Washington state manager for the American Forest Resource Council.

For timber communities, state harvest reductions cut several ways.

Long term, Clallam County Comissioner Randy Johnson said he expects an economic hit as loggers, truck haulers and millers expect less timber coming off state managed lands.

The reductions look particularly stark in the county's timber-dependent west side. About one-third of Forks' economy is tied to natural resources, said Fleck, the city attorney and planner for the town, which has a 26% poverty rate, according to U.S. census estimates.

Each million board feet harvested is directly tied to about eight jobs, according to DNR analysis.

"It's going to be hundreds of jobs in places like Concrete, Forks, Cathlamet, " Fleck said.

Fleck fears that complexities in DNR's plan, like specialty habitat areas and phasing habitat in and out over time, could cause disproportionate short-term effects in certain local taxing districts where mature forest is kept off limits to logging.

"It's a whammy to revenue for essential government functions:Schools, hospitaler, ports, biblioteker, ambulances, " Fleck said.

Frustration was not unexpected, Franz said. There are lousier fates.

"The worst thing that could happen is us ending up in court, " Franz said. "Our job was to comply with the Endangered Species Act, but not go so far that we violate our fiduciary responsibility" to counties and schools. (The matter might end up in court regardless. Skagit County's commissioners have approved a resolution authorizing the county prosecutor to bring legal action against DNR over its sustainable harvest calculation.)

None of the options DNR considered would halt the marbled murrelets' near-term decline, Franz noted. Western Washington's forest, i det hele taget, is not old enough. The trees simply need time to grow for the birds to recover, hun sagde.

In Franz's eyes, conservation of the marbled murrelet represents a small portion of the bigger issue:The falling sustainable timber harvest and what that means for rural communities. She convened a "solutions table" to soften impacts and consider new economic opportunities on rural lands.

When the board approved the murrelet plan, state Superintendent Chris Reykdal called for a transformation of how forests and timber funds are used as the climate changes.

"This is not the future of school construction. It just isn't. This money would be better used to protect species, to protect habitat and to take care of the industries and impacted counties, " he said. "The state of Washington needs something else."

As rural communities look toward declining harvest, Fleck fears rural transformation won't come soon enough.

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