Title 76, FORESTS AND FOREST PRODUCTS

(1) The board shall establish by rule which forest practices shall be included within each of the following classes: Class I: Minimal or specific forest practices that have no direct potential for damaging a public resource and that may be conducted without submitting an applicat…

(1) The legislature finds that the levels of fish stocks throughout much of the state require immediate action to be taken to help these fish runs where possible. The legislature also recognizes that federal and state agencies, tribes, county representatives, and private timberla…

(1) The department shall prescribe the form and contents of the notification and application. The forest practices rules shall specify by whom and under what conditions the notification and application shall be signed or otherwise certified as acceptable. Activities conducted by …

When a private landowner is applying for a forest practices permit under this chapter and that landowner has entered into a habitat incentives agreement with the department and the department of fish and wildlife as provided in *RCW 77.55.300, the department shall comply with the…

(1) An applicant shall pay an application fee, if applicable, at the time an application or notification is submitted to the department or to the local governmental entity as provided in this chapter. (2)(a) If RCW 77.55.361, 76.09.490, 76.09.040, and 76.09.060 are not enacted in…

Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter to the contrary, for the purposes of RCW 76.09.050(1) and 76.09.060, where timber rights have been transferred by deed to a perpetual owner who is different from the forestland owner, the owner of perpetual timber rights may sig…

(1) After the completion of a logging operation, satisfactory reforestation, as defined by the rules and regulations promulgated by the board, shall be completed within three years. However: (a) A longer period may be authorized if seed or seedlings are not available; (b) A perio…

(1) The department shall have the authority to serve upon an operator a stop work order which shall be a final order of the department if: (a) There is any violation of the provisions of this chapter or the forest practices regulations; or (b) There is a deviation from the approv…

If a violation, a deviation, material damage or potential for material damage to a public resource has occurred and the department determines that a stop work order is unnecessary, then the department shall issue and serve upon the operator or land owner a notice, which shall cle…

If the department of ecology determines that a person has failed to comply with the forest practices regulations relating to water quality protection, and that the department of natural resources has not issued a stop work order or notice to comply, the department of ecology shal…

Unless declared invalid on appeal, a final order of the department or a final decision of the appeals board shall be binding upon all parties. [ 1974 ex.s. c 137 s 11.]

If an operator fails to undertake and complete any course of action with respect to a forest practice, as required by a final order of the department or a final decision of the appeals board or any court pursuant to RCW 76.09.080 and 76.09.090, the department may determine the co…

When the operator has failed to obey a stop work order issued under the provisions of RCW 76.09.080 the department may take immediate action to prevent continuation of or avoid material damage to public resources. If a final order or decision fixes liability with the operator, ti…

(1) The department of natural resources may take any necessary action to enforce any final order or final decision, and may disapprove any forest practices application or notification submitted by any person who has failed to comply with a final order or final decision or has fai…

(1) The department shall make inspections of forestlands, before, during, and after the conducting of forest practices as necessary for the purpose of ensuring compliance with this chapter, the forest practices rules, including forest practices rules incorporated under RCW 76.09.…

Any duly authorized representative of the department of ecology shall have the right to enter upon forestland at any reasonable time to administer the provisions of this chapter and RCW 90.48.420. [ 1974 ex.s. c 137 s 16.]

(1) Every person who violates any provision of RCW 76.09.010 through 76.09.280 or of the forest practices rules, or who converts forestland to a use other than commercial timber operation within three years after completion of the forest practice without the consent of the county…

All penalties received or recovered by state agency action for violations as prescribed in RCW 76.09.170 shall be deposited in the state general fund. All such penalties recovered as a result of local government action shall be deposited in the local government general fund. Any …

In addition to the penalties imposed pursuant to RCW 76.09.170, any person who conducts any forest practice or knowingly aids or abets another in conducting any forest practice in violation of any provisions of RCW 76.09.010 through 76.09.280 or 90.48.420, or of the regulations i…

A person aggrieved by the approval or disapproval of an application to conduct a forest practice or the approval or disapproval of any landscape plan or permit or watershed analysis may seek review from the appeals board by filing a request for the same within thirty days from th…

(1)(a) Counties planning under RCW 36.70A.040 with a population greater than one hundred thousand, and the cities and towns within those counties, where more than a total of twenty-five Class IV forest practices applications, as defined in RCW 76.09.050(1) Class IV (a) through (d…

The board shall establish a policy for a continuing program of orientation and training to be conducted by the department with relation to forest practices and the regulation thereof pursuant to RCW 76.09.010 through 76.09.280. [ 1974 ex.s. c 137 s 25.]

The department shall represent the state's interest in matters pertaining to forestry and forest practices, including federal matters, and may consult with and cooperate with the federal government and other states, as well as other public agencies, in the study and enhancement o…

The department, along with other affected agencies and institutions, shall annually determine the state's needs for research in forest practices and the impact of such practices on public resources and shall recommend needed projects to the governor and the legislature. [ 1974 ex…

Forestland owners shall permit reasonable access requested by appropriate agencies for removal from streambeds abutting their property of log and debris jams accumulated from upstream ownerships. Any owner of logs in such jams in claiming or removing them shall be required to rem…

The department shall inspect, or cause to be inspected, deforested lands of the state and ascertain if the lands are valuable chiefly for agriculture, timber growing, or other purposes, with a view to reforestation. [ 1986 c 100 s 49.]

(1) Mass earth movements and fluvial processes can endanger public resources and public safety. In some cases, action can be taken which has a probability of reducing the danger to public resources and public safety. In other cases it may be best to take no action. In order to de…

The forest practices board may, upon request of the department or at its own discretion, appoint an advisory committee consisting of not more than five members qualified by appropriate experience and training to review and comment upon such draft hazard reduction plans prepared b…

(1) The department shall send a notice to all forestland owners, both public and private, within the geographic area selected for review, stating that the department intends to study the area as part of the hazard-reduction program. (2) The department shall prepare a proposed pla…

(1) When a forestland owner elects to implement the recommended hazard-reduction measures, the landowner shall notify the department and apply for cost-sharing funds. Upon completion, the department shall inspect the remedial measures undertaken by the forestland owner. If, in th…

(1) Subject to the availability of appropriated funds, the department shall pay fifty percent of the cost of implementing the hazard-reduction program, except as provided in subsection (2) of this section. (2) In the event department funds described in subsection (1) of this sect…

The legislature hereby finds and declares that riparian ecosystems on forestlands in addition to containing valuable timber resources, provide benefits for wildlife, fish, and water quality. The legislature further finds and declares that leaving riparian areas unharvested and le…

Forest practices consistent with a habitat conservation plan approved prior to March 25, 1996, by the secretary of the interior or commerce under 16 U.S.C. Sec. 1531 et seq., and the endangered species act of 1973 as amended, are exempt from rules and policies under this chapter,…

The legislature recognizes the importance of providing the greatest diversity of habitats, particularly riparian, wetland, and old growth habitats, and of assuring the greatest diversity of species within those habitats for the survival and reproduction of enough individuals to m…

The department together with the department of fish and wildlife, and the department of ecology relating to water quality protection, shall develop a suitable process to permit landowners to secure all permits required for the conduct of forest practices in a single multiyear per…

The legislature intends that small forestland owners have access to alternate plan processes or alternate harvest restrictions, or both if necessary, that meet the public resource protection standard set forth in RCW 76.09.370(3), but which also lowers the overall cost of regulat…

(1) The legislature finds that the process that produced the forests and fish report was instigated by the forest practices board, the report is the product of considerable negotiations between several diverse interest groups, and the report has the support of key federal agencie…

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, prior to the sale or transfer of land or perpetual timber rights subject to continuing forestland obligations under the forest practices rules adopted under RCW 76.09.370, as specifically identified in the forests and fish…

The forest and fish support account is hereby created in the state treasury. Receipts from appropriations, the surcharge imposed under RCW 82.04.261, and other sources must be deposited into the account. Expenditures from the account shall be used for activities pursuant to the s…

(1) The state may not require a small forestland owner to invest in upgrades, replacements, or other engineering of a forest road, and any fish passage barriers that are a part of the road, that do not threaten public resources or create a barrier to the passage of fish. (2) Part…

(1) The board must amend the forest practices rules relating to road maintenance and abandonment plans that exist on May 14, 2003, to reflect the following: (a) A forestland owner who owns a total of eighty acres or less of forestland in Washington is not required to submit a roa…

RCW 76.13.150 applies to road maintenance and abandonment plans under this chapter. [ 2003 c 311 s 8.] Notes: Findings—Effective date—2003 c 311: See notes following RCW 76.09.020.

The department shall not disapprove a forest practices application filed by a small forestland owner on the basis that fish passage barriers have not been removed or replaced if the small forestland owner filing the application has committed to participate in the program establis…

For the purposes of this chapter and RCW 76.13.150 and 77.12.755, "small forestland owner" means an owner of forestland who, at the time of submission of required documentation to the department, has harvested from his or her own lands in this state no more than an average timber…

If a county, city, town, or regional governmental entity receives a notice of conversion to nonforestry use by the department under RCW 76.09.060, then the county, city, town, or regional governmental entity must deny all applications for permits or approvals, including building …

(1) If a landowner who did not state an intent to convert his or her land to a nonforestry use decides to convert his or her land to a nonforestry use within six years of receiving an approved forest practices application or notification under this chapter, the landowner must: (a…