Steve Bloom/The Olympian
Jim Hotvedt, state assistant lands manager, reviews timber sale records that include one of the two 350- to 400-year-old snags that have become part of an interagency feud regarding their removal. One of the snags is seen behind him along U.S. Highway 12 near Mayfield Lake in Lewis County.

Dying trees create lively fight

Two snags along U.S. 12 kindle a turf war among state agencies

BRAD SHANNON, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published October 9, 2001

LEWIS COUNTY -- Two snags -- looming 180 feet tall and measuring up to 7 feet in diameter -- sit on opposite sides of U.S. Highway 12, like silver sentries on the road from Interstate 5 to White Pass and Yakima.

Depending on one's viewpoint, the dying but majestic trees are a gift to birds and insects, or a hazard. Or both.

Four state agencies have been at loggerheads for more than a month over what to do about the Douglas fir trees that tower over a proposed 26-acre logging site, four miles from Mossyrock near Mayfield Lake.

The agencies

The Department of Transportation wants the 350- to 400-year-old Douglas firs cut down for fear that motorists" safety could be at risk if upper chunks of the trees break off and fall onto the highway roughly 100 feet away.

The Department of Labor and Industries wants the trees felled or a large buffer left around the snags to protect loggers.

The Department of Fish and Wildlife, while saying it doesn't want to put the public at risk, wants to preserve as much of the trees as possible, leaving a buffer for the planned logging operation.

"It's unique habitat in that area," said Steve Manlow, Fish and Wildlife's regional habitat program manager for southwest Washington. Manlow describes the trees as prime habitat for everything from insects to bats to cavity nesting birds, including owls.

Though it involves only two trees, the battle over the snags has raised tempers on all sides. And it offers a glimpse of the larger balancing act that state resource agencies are trying to work out in the era of logging cutbacks and endangered species.

"We are seeing more and more of these issues pop up," said Manlow. "We've actually had cases where after a site was logged by DNR ... we had L&I go out and require the state to remove those snags as well. It's becoming a broad resource issue."

Endangered species

Tom Ford, a logging safety specialist for the Department of Labor and Industries, lost a friend who was hit by a snag a few years ago and sees it differently. "You mention endangered species and they act like they have diplomatic immunity," Ford said of some natural-resource agency workers.

"Sometimes we get into cases where there is really good habitat but it is in the wrong place," he added.

A compromise, spurred by a tree pathologist's report last week, is drawing near.

The Department of Natural Resources, which owns the land, now wants to leave about 90 feet of each tree standing, said Jim Hotvedt, who recently stepped in as assistant lands manager for DNR's Central Region office in Chehalis. The office oversees timber cutting on state lands in Thurston, Lewis and other adjacent counties.

On a visit to the site Monday, the huge trees dwarfed Hotvedt, as well as the logging trucks and other vehicles that rumbled past.

Hotvedt said he agrees with arguments made by both parties. He described the snags as clearly the biggest and best habitat trees in the 26-acre timber sale area that has been appraised at more than $200,000. But one tree, which leans toward the highway, is a clear safety risk, he said.

"We're not going to cut them down, but I think we are going to try to top them in a way that results in a substantial snag being left behind," Hotvedt said.

Craig Robbins, a maintenance supervisor for the Department of Transportation, said "both trees endanger the users of SR 12 and anyone working in that area."

The safety issue didn't come to light until the summer when Ford responded to an inquiry from the T.L. Fitzer Logging Co., which had won the contract for logging the area and had concerns about worker safety.

Ford's assessment, based on a manual written cooperatively by timber, wildlife and safety regulators, determined that the trees were too dangerous to allow logging nearby, and he wrote DNR outlining his concerns.

Now that a compromise is in the works, DNR faces other hurdles in trying to top the trees. "To tell you the truth, I'm not so sure we can find someone who is willing to go up and top them," Hotvedt said.

Another problem, Hotvedt said, is that the same state worker-safety rules that are causing DNR to consider removing the top 90 feet of the snags could also keep a logger from climbing the trees.

Hotvedt said he's still hoping to find a company licensed to handle the risk that meets L&I guidelines. If not, he said he may have to find a self-employed operator who would be trained, but not be subject to L&I rules for employees.

The Olympian Copyright 2001

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