As commissioner of public lands and superintendent of public instruction, supporting K-12 education across Washington state is paramount for each of us.
The state Department of Natural Resources manages almost 3 million acres of public land, primarily forests and farms, to provide revenue for schools, counties and other public services. In fact, education is the primary recipient of revenue generated by DNR — about $95 million last year was generated on Common School Trust lands, which are used to fund K-12 school construction across Washington. Lands set aside for our state’s public colleges and universities generated a further $28 million.
The state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction works with Washington’s 295 public school districts and six tribal- education compact schools to provide tools, resources and technical assistance so that every student in our state has access to a high-quality public education.
Managing public lands often requires making tough decisions about how to accommodate competing uses. Take, for example, the conservation of the marbled murrelet — a threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act.
The marbled murrelet is a small, fast-flying seabird that only comes to land to lay eggs and rear its young, spending the rest of its life at sea. They lay one egg each year, setting them atop large, moss-covered branches high in the forest canopy within 55 miles of saltwater. Decreased availability of prey, an increased amount of predators and a loss of inland nesting habitat have all played a role in the bird’s population decline.
A necessary balance
On one hand, DNR has an ethical and legal responsibility to protect the seabird’s habitat on state lands in an effort to sustain and recover the population. On the other, DNR has that same ethical and legal obligation to use state lands to support our schools and public services. In addition, when we sustainably harvest forestland, we create family-wage logging, milling and transportation jobs in our rural communities.
Pursuant to its ESA obligations, DNR has used an interim strategy to manage its lands to conserve marbled murrelet habitat since 1997. Because an interim strategy has been in place, DNR has had to hold back tens of thousands of acres from forest management for marbled murrelet habitat, for schools, and for rural communities. Inaction is not working for the marbled murrelet, it’s not working for public services that depend on public forestland, and it’s not working for rural communities.
But with the final environmental impact statement for the long-term conservation strategy released recently, we are now able to move forward. The plan preferred by the Board of Natural Resources, of which we are both members, will protect 168,000 acres of marbled murrelet habitat on state lands.
At the same time, that plan will release more than 100,000 acres of DNR-managed forestland that is less suitable as habitat, allowing sustainable forest management for the first time in 22 years. Timber on those lands will be sustainably harvested to support the schools and counties that depend on them, while also creating economic opportunity in our rural communities. Real jobs, right where we need more of them.
Further, the Board of Natural Resources worked hard to ensure that no county bears a disproportionate amount of the burden from conservation — with particular emphasis on Pacific, Wahkiakum and Clallam counties.
This conservation strategy balances the needs of education, rural communities, species preservation and the sustainability of a vital economic industry in our state.
We are charting a path to safeguard this threatened species while also creating jobs and economic opportunity. We’re making an investment in the success of the marbled murrelet — and in the future of western Washington’s rural economies and schools.
Hilary Franz is the commissioner of public lands, the elected official who oversees the Washington State Department of Natural Resources.
Chris Reykdal is the superintendent of public instruction, the elected official overseeing public K-12 education in Washington state, and a member of the Board of Natural Resources.
