Washington Administrative Code

"Spotted owl special emphasis areas (SOSEA)" means the following geographic areas and the associated goals as mapped. Detailed maps of the SOSEAs indicating the boundaries and goals are available from the department at its regional offices. [Statutory Authority: Chapters 76.09 an…

Marbled murrelet special landscape means the following geographic area as mapped. A detailed map of the marbled murrelet special landscape indicating the boundaries is available from the department at its regional offices.Southwest Washington Special Landscape [Statutory Authorit…

(1) Landowner option plans for the northern spotted owl. Landowner option plans (LOPs) are intended to provide landowners with a mechanism, entered into voluntarily, to contribute to the protection of northern spotted owls by considering the needs of overall population maintenanc…

(1) Purpose. A cooperative habitat enhancement agreement (CHEA) is intended to remove disincentives for landowners who create, enhance, or maintain habitat for the northern spotted owl or marbled murrelet by providing them with protection against future spotted owl or marbled mur…

(1) No Class II, III or IV forest practices shall be commenced or continued unless the department has received a notification for Class II forest practices, or approved an application for Class III or IV forest practices pursuant to the act. Where the time limit for the departmen…

Landowners may apply for multiyear permits to conduct forest practices for four or five years in the following situations:(1) Where a watershed analysis has been approved for a WAU under WAC 222-22-080, a landowner may apply for a multiyear permit. The information provided and le…

(1) Application. A small forest landowner may submit a forest practices application that includes planned forest practices activities on all or part of a landowner's ownership within one of the department's geographic region boundaries. The application can be for terms of four to…

(1) Review for consistency with fish protection standards. The department reviews forest practices applications that include forest practices hydraulic projects in Type S and F and associated Np Waters for consistency with fish protection standards. (2) Preapplication consultatio…

(1) When the department officially receives an application, the department will approve, condition or disapprove it within thirty calendar days for Class III and Class IV forest practices, except:(a) To the extent the department is prohibited from approving the application by the…

(1) Notifications and applications shall be delivered to the department by mail or personal delivery at the appropriate region office, or electronically when the department develops an electronic business system. Notifications and applications actually received at the appropriate…

(1) Whenever an approved application authorizes a forest practices activity which, because of soil condition, proximity to a water course or other unusual factor, has a potential for causing material damage to a public resource, as determined by the department, the applicant shal…

(1) If an application to harvest signed by the landowner indicates that within three years after completion, the forest land will be converted to a specified active use that is incompatible with a use other than commercial timber operations, the reforestation requirements of chap…

(1) For Class II, III, and IV-special forest practices, if a landowner wishes to maintain the option to convert forest land to a use other than commercial timber operations, the landowner may request the appropriate local governmental entity to approve a conversion option harvest…

(1) Under the provisions of RCW 76.09.060 (3)(b), if harvest takes place without an approved application or notification, or the landowner did not state that any land covered by the application or notification is intended to be converted to a use other than commercial timber oper…

Continuing forest land obligations include reforestation, road maintenance and abandonment plans, and harvest strategies on perennial nonfish habitat waters in Eastern Washington. This section does not apply to small forest landowner checklist road maintenance and abandonment pla…

Substantial deviation from a notification or an approved application requires a new notification or application. Other deviations may be authorized by a supplemental directive, notice to comply or stop work order. The department shall notify the departments of fish and wildlife, …

No prior notification or application shall be required for emergency forest practices necessitated by and commenced during or immediately after fire, flood, windstorm, earthquake, structural failure or other catastrophic event. Within 48 hours after commencement of such practice,…

Forest practices applications or notifications are not required for forest practices conducted to control exotic forest insect or disease outbreaks, when conducted by or under the direction of the department of agriculture in carrying out an order of the governor or director of t…

(1) The approval given by the department to an application to conduct a forest practice shall be effective for a term of three years from the date of approval, with the following exceptions:(a) Multiyear permits are effective for four or five years.(b) Small forest landowner long…

(1) Applicants may schedule an early review of a proposed application with the department prior to official filing, or submit an application with a delayed effective date. Such early review or submission will allow the department to review multiple applications and bring other fo…

(1) Notice to parks. The department shall send to the affected agency, within two business days of receipt, a copy of any notification or application for forest practices within five hundred feet of the boundary of any park entity registered according to subsection (2) of this se…

The department shall establish and update every 5 years a register listing all incorporated cities and towns which have filed a written request for inclusion on such register. The department shall provide to those listed on the register, copies of all applications and notificatio…

(1) The department shall notify affected Indian tribes of all applications in geographic areas of interest that have been identified by such tribes, including those areas that may contain cultural resources.(2) Where an application is within a tribe's geographic area of interest …

The department shall administer the permitting process for all forest practices on forest land in the CRGNSA special management area. For all applications and notifications within the CRGNSA special management area, the department shall send copies of a satisfactorily completed a…

The legislature has found that further reduction in harvestable timber owned by small forest landowners as a result of the rules adopted under RCW 76.09.055 or 76.09.370 will further erode small landowners' economic viability and willingness or ability to keep the lands in forest…

The following definitions apply to this chapter:(1) "Completion of harvest" means that the trees from an area under an approved forest practices application have been commercially harvested and further entry into that area by any type of logging or slash treating equipment or met…

(1) Forest practices application. Prior to submitting a forestry riparian easement application, the landowner must have an approved forest practices application or an application that was disapproved because of forests and fish rule restrictions.(2) Forestry riparian easement app…

After the small forest landowner office makes a preliminary determination of eligibility:(1) The department will verify the timber harvest associated with the easement is complete.(2) The department will submit the list of eligible projects to the state legislature for budget app…

(1) Qualifying small forest landowners must complete a timber harvest to be eligible for a forestry riparian easement, unless a commercially reasonable harvest is not possible according to subsection (5) of this section or the only timber available to harvest meets the criteria o…

(1) This section applies only to timber cruises related to the forestry riparian easement program to establish easement compensation.(2) A timber cruise is required to determine the volume by species and grade to accurately determine the value of the qualifying timber.(a) The cru…

(1) The small forest landowner office will calculate the compensation amount for forestry riparian easements by determining a stumpage value for the qualifying timber. The office will use data gathered from the date of the completed harvest. For applications that are eligible und…

The state of Washington will reimburse landowners for actual costs incurred toward identifying qualifying timber. Costs can include one or more of the following:(1) Determining and marking streamside buffers;(2) Marking the qualifying timber; and(3) The cost of the portion of a g…

(1) All compensation and reimbursement to the small forest landowner is subject to available funding and to the extent reasonable possible the small forest landowner office will process forestry riparian easement applications in the order received.(2) If funding is not available,…

If, within the first ten years after receipt of compensation for a forestry riparian easement, a small forest landowner sells the land on which a forestry riparian easement is located to a landowner that does not meet the criteria for a qualifying small forest landowner, then the…

After execution of a forestry riparian easement, qualifying timber may not be salvaged without prior written permission from the department. Prior to removal, the small forest landowner office and the landowner must negotiate the terms of removal and reimbursement to the state, i…

If a forestry riparian easement is taken, in whole or in part, by exercise of the power of eminent domain, or acquired by purchase in lieu of condemnation, the state will receive compensation for its remaining interest in the easement based upon the following formula:Where:C = th…

Any person who wishes to appeal written decisions of the small forest landowner office pertaining to application eligibility, easement valuation, and related decisions may submit a request for review within thirty days after the date of the small forest landowner office's written…

*(1) Public resources may be adversely affected by the interaction of two or more forest practices. The purpose of this rule is to address these cumulative effects of forest practices on the public resources of fish, water, and capital improvements of the state or its political s…

*(1) For purposes of this chapter, the state is divided into areas known as watershed administrative units (WAUs). The department shall, in cooperation with the departments of ecology and fish and wildlife, affected Indian tribes, local governmental entities, forest landowners, a…

*(1) The department shall set the minimum qualifications for analysts participating in level 1 assessments conducted under WAC 222-22-050, for specialists participating in level 2 assessments conducted under WAC 222-22-060, for field managers participating in recommendation of pr…

(1) The department shall prioritize WAUs for the purposes of this section and for reviews under WAC 222-22-090 in cooperation with the departments of ecology and fish and wildlife, affected Indian tribes, forest landowners, and the public. The prioritization shall consider the av…

(1) Any watershed analysis initiated after July 1, 2005, is not complete unless the analysis includes a completed cultural resource module. Cultural resources module completeness is detailed in Appendix II of the module and includes affected tribe(s) participation, appropriate te…

*(1) To begin a watershed resource assessment on a WAU, the department acting under WAC 222-22-040(2) or a forest landowner or owners acting under WAC 222-22-040(3) may assemble a level 1 resource assessment team consisting of analysts qualified under WAC 222-22-030(1) or, at its…

*(1) The department acting under WAC 222-22-040(2) or forest landowner acting under WAC 222-22-040(3) may assemble a level 2 resource assessment team either to begin a watershed analysis at a level 2 resource assessment or to review the level 1 resource assessment on a WAU. The l…

*(1) For each WAU for which a watershed analysis is undertaken, the department acting under WAC 222-22-040(2) or forest landowner acting under WAC 222-22-040(3) shall assemble a team of field managers qualified under WAC 222-22-030(1). The team shall include persons qualified in …

*In connection with any watershed analysis that is not a reanalysis under WAC 222-22-090, the monitoring module will be required to be completed but implementation of monitoring recommendations would be voluntary unless otherwise required by existing laws and rules, or required b…

Restoration opportunities will also be identified based on the watershed resource assessment. Implementation of restoration opportunities will be voluntary.[Statutory Authority: Chapter 34.05 RCW, RCW 76.09.040, [76.09.]050, [76.09.]370, 76.13.120(9). WSR 01-12-042, § 222-22-076,…

(1) Upon receipt of the recommended prescriptions and management strategies resulting from a level 1 assessment under WAC 222-22-050, a level 2 assessment under WAC 222-22-060, or a reanalysis under WAC 222-22-090, the department shall select prescriptions. The department shall c…

*(1) Where a watershed analysis has been completed and approved for a WAU under this chapter:(a) Any landowner within the WAU may apply for a multiyear permit to conduct forest practices according to the watershed analysis prescriptions. This permit is not renewable if a reanalys…

*The watershed analysis system established in this chapter is a principal methodology for assessing the effects on fish, water, and capital improvements of the state or its political subdivisions of two or more forest practices. Recognizing that it will not be possible to achieve…