PORTLAND, Ore. ( KOIN ) – One hundred and forty acres of Clark County timberland could face an uncertain future after two nonprofits filed a lawsuit against a Washington State agency in an effort to halt the sale and future clearcutting of the land.
The lawsuit — which was first reported by The Columbian — was filed December 23 in Clark County Superior Court by the Legacy Forest Defense Coalition and Friends of Clark County.
The lawsuit is challenging the Dabbler timber sale, which would authorize the land, in the Siouxon region of Eastern Clark County, to be clearcut by commercial logging companies.
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The nonprofits allege that the Washington State Department of Natural Resouces, the DNR Board, and Commissioner Hilary Franz, violated the Public Lands Act and the state Environmental Policy Act and is asking the court to invalidate the Board’s approval of the sale.
The forests in the Dabbler sale are “close to becoming old growth,” LFDC told KOIN 6 News in a statement on Friday, noting the forests are naturally regenerated stands from the Yacolt burn in 1902.