Rural communities and foresters have a special commitment to the land. Type Np jeopardizes it for no significant benefit.
Initial estimates of damage from the costly and ineffective new stream buffer rule—recently approved by the Washington State Forest Practices Board and known as “Type Np”—amount to as much as $8 billion in harm for landowners and rural communities across Western Washington. Even the government’s own analysis concludes that Type Np cannot achieve significant improvements for water quality and fish habitat.
The sudden removal of more than 200,000 acres of productive forestland from planned harvest rotations will add new challenges to rural communities that are already struggling. The full harm will be far greater than what can be expressed on an accounting ledger. Work, community and a beneficial relationship with the land are all in jeopardy.
This is an intermittently dry Type Np stream. The new rule requires 75-foot buffers on both sides — a zone of land as wide as an Olympic-sized swimming pool that can no longer be managed.
The “Hardrock” study showed that existing Forests & Fish buffers were protecting cool water temperatures for salmon before, during and after timber harvest.
Old vs. New: New buffers disrupt previously approved management plans
Under the old rule, buffers (represented in light blue) protected sensitive sites and costly road improvements are developed to minimize incursions for management, including fire response.
Under the new rule, buffers are required on non-sensitive areas and existing road improvements do not support access for management. Under these conditions, forestland can be trapped or effectively unmanageable.
