Heads up Whidbey property owners, especially those with property near a large forested area. Do you really know the owners of that forested property? Did you know that in a timber harvest under a state Forest Practices Application Class III, state regulations trump county regulations? This means timber harvesting under state “guidelines” is allowed from property line to road edge. No buffers are left, no animal habitat, etc.

There is almost no protection for wetlands. Yes, all the trees may be taken in the wetland areas. Did you know that the slash left over from a logging operation must be pulled back at least 200 feet from your property line, theoretically to protect your home from burns? But this also means all the salal and under-story will be scraped back as well in the name of fire safety. And speaking of fire safety, did you know that the state controls the burn permit too and does not have to follow the county no-burn policies. The information we have relayed here came from conversations with Department of Natural Resources personnel.

Let’s move on to the use of taxpayer dollars. Two of the most recent power outages in the Central Whidbey area were as a result of trees hitting power lines on Classic road where the logging is occurring. Of course the wind took out now-unprotected trees on neighboring properties as well as DHB Enterprises’ (the logger) trees. Central Whidbey Fire and Rescue had to use their emergency people to stand guard over downed live electric lines until Puget Power could get there. The sheriff’s department was also monitoring the area. Thank heavens there were no life threatening emergencies requiring these people anywhere else during this time. Did you know that our tax dollars will pick up the tab for the road cleanup, any road repairs needed from the heavy equipment as well as the use of our emergency services?

While state regulations may be appropriate in large remote timber properties, they are totally out of context in a county where five acre homesites are the norm. Whidbey prides itself as being friendly and a visually pleasant place to live and visit. So many property owners on Whidbey are practicing sustainable timber harvesting practices which include care for nature and neighbors. To permit a clearcut of the type happening on Classic Road is beyond our understanding.

Check the ownership of the forested property in your area. If the property is to be logged under a state Forest Practices Class III permit, you will not get any prior notification from anyone. Before you can get a cup of coffee everything will be destroyed. if you wish to see an example of state permitted timber harvest, check out the 40 acres on Classic Road (turn east off the main highway at the phone booth) and Honeymoon Bay Road. The state forester for this area may be reached at 360-708-8142 or DNR’s main office, 360-856-3500. Your commissioners can be reached through the main county switchboard.

Jo Van Patten

Clarence Noyer

Marta Jensen

Steve Jones

Herb and Katy Riedlinger

Bob and Marianna Marcus

Gail and George Buehler