Clark County Public Works plans tree thinning for Camp BonnevilleFree

Clark County Public Works’ Parks and Lands Department plans to start another stewardship tree thinning at Camp Bonneville this summer. The thinning work also includes a timber sale and hazard tree abatement.

Income generated from the timber sale will be used at Camp Bonneville for forest operations, property management and other activities, such as road maintenance, Clark County Forester Hunter Decker said Monday.

Decker said the thinning work will take place on 167 acres in the northwest area of Camp Bonneville. The goal is to remove 30 percent of the stand using selective thinning and other techniques to create a health forest ecosystem as required under the county’s forest stewardship plan.

Hazard tree abatement includes removing potentially dangerous trees around all of Camp Bonneville’s existing infrastructure, such as barrack buildings, powerline corridors and sections along the fence line where trees pose a hazard to neighboring properties.

The county has been working with the U.S. Army Base Realignment and Closure division to clean up the former military base to allow for future use by the public, the release said. Approximately 500 acres on the west side of the 3,840-acre site will remain fenced and off limits to public use due to potentially unexploded ordnance.

For more information on Camp Bonneville, go to https://clark.wa.gov/public-works/camp-bonneville.