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Meeting planned on management of Forest Capital lands |
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Wednesday, 19 November 2008 |
Neighbors voice concern over practices,
but logging company declines to attend
By JAMIE HENNEMAN
S-E Staff Reporter
This Thursday, a group of citizens who are concerned over the way the Forest Capital Partners LLC logging company is managing their lands will hold a meeting to explore the issue. However, the self-described “independent investment firm” has declined to attend the public meeting.
Forest Capital spokesperson Brian Kernohan said the firm is “not sure that a public meeting is the best way to address the issue.” Instead, Forest Capital has offered to have a private meeting with neighboring landowners. That private meeting is set to take place and Forest Capital has declined to comment on the matter until after the private session.
Kernohan was also reluctant to share any details about the company with the Statesman-Examiner because he said he was concerned that articles on the issue may fuel public misunderstanding.
“It is our full intention to work with the community, but we declined to attend the public meeting because we aren't certain what the format is going to be,” he said. “We feel any information about our company that is printed prior to the public meeting could be misconstrued, since we won't be at the meeting to help explain it. Frankly, we are a bit surprised that a public meeting is still going to occur since we have a private meeting set up with landowners.”
However, citizens like Mike Slater said they feel that public pressure on the company may be one of the last tools they have to influence the way Forest Capital manages the 2.2 million of acres of land they own in the area.
“The Forest Capital land used to be managed by Boise Cascade until they sold it,” said Slater. “Many people were happy, for the most part,the way Boise was managing the land, but are concerned over what we are seeing now.”
Some of the Forest Capital management practices that Slater and other landowners particularly object to include spraying an area with herbicides before they log it and then systematically clear-cutting the area.
“We are not against logging, but we want sustainable logging,” said Slater who noted the spraying of Forest Capital lands adjacent to his home in Gifford have even killed new trees on his property. “Our area is dependent on logging and we want our kids and grandkids to have jobs. Just because the technology is out there today to rapidly take out timber doesn't mean it should be done.
“We would like to see some corporate responsibility toward future generations,” he added.
Technically, the way Forest Capital is managing their lands isn't illegal and meets the standards of the Washington Forest Practices Board, said Slater, but the techniques being used are rapidly changing the landscape and may negatively impact wildlife.
The Forest Practices Board is an independent state agency chaired by the Commissioner of Public Lands that adopts rules that set standards for forest practices such as timber harvests, pre-commercial thinning, road construction, and forest chemical applications, according to the board's website www.dnr.wa.gov. The rules aim to “protect public resources such as water quality and fish habitat while maintaining a viable timber industry.”
But Slater wonders if those rules are doing the job.
“To have a healthy forest, you need a variety of trees of different ages and a certain amount of plant growth for wildlife,” he said. “Our fear is that the spraying and clear-cutting are a precursor to developing the land into homes or other commercial projects in areas where the county can't provide services for them.”
The meeting regarding Forest Capital lands is slated for this Thursday, Nov. 20 at the Colville Community College at 7 p.m. For more information, call Slater at 722-5455.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 03 December 2008 )
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