Trading Away the West Home


Part 6 / The Future

Copyright © 1998 The Seattle Times Company

Posted at 02:40 a.m. PDT; Friday, October 2, 1998

Details of the pending Plum Creek trade


WHAT THE PUBLIC WILL RECEIVE: Approximately 62,000 acres of Plum Creek Timber holdings.

WHERE: The bulk of the land is on the east slopes of the Cascades in Kittitas County, along both sides of Interstate 90.

WHAT: Large tracts bordering the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, and popular recreation areas conservation groups have long sought to protect - notably Silver Creek, an old-growth forest popular with hikers, and Scatter Creek, an alpine-meadow area with awesome views.

HIGHLIGHTS: It would eliminate much of the checkerboard, public/private-ownership pattern in the high-elevation forests of the Cascades, making the I-90 corridor easier to manage for wildlife habitat. The amount of new logging roads Plum Creek has applied to build across Forest Service lands shrinks from 20 miles to about 3 miles. The trade will increase roadless areas by about 13,000 acres and the public would realize a net gain of about 10,000 acres of old growth.

CONCERNS: The Forest Service is worried that other companies own mineral rights on some of the land. Environmentalists don't want to trade for logged-over parcels like those bordering the Pacific Crest Trail. And because the trade is so large, environmentalists want Plum Creek to sell the public some of its more sensitive lands. Plum Creek is currently logging in about 3,000 acres of the land offered for exchange. The proposed legislation would prevent groups from challenging the exchange in court.

WHAT PLUM CREEK WILL RECEIVE: About 17,000 acres of public land.

WHERE: Forest land spread from the Alpine Lakes Wilderness to Mount St. Helens. It includes roughly equal amounts from three national forests: Mount Baker-Snoqualmie, Wenatchee and Gifford Pinchot.

WHAT: In general, Plum Creek gets mature, low-elevation forests where the trees grow bigger and faster than on the lands they are giving up. Land is closer to mills and in areas of less controversy. The amount of Forest Service land being offered has shrunk by about 50 percent. Much of Kelly Butte, one of the last unlogged, roadless areas in the Green River basin, will stay in public ownership. Environmental groups had objected to proposals for exchanging it to Plum Creek. Instead, the Forest Service will acquire additional lands in the area.

CONCERNS: Environmentalists want all of the Kelly Butte area put into public ownership. They and some federal officials complain that the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, which already bears the brunt of logging in Western Washington, gives up mature forest and gets nothing in return. All of the newly acquired recreation lands and wildlife habitat will be near I-90 instead. Some groups object to trading away any old-growth or mature forests on public land. They want Plum Creek to sell more lands directly to the government. But Plum Creek says its first goal is to acquire more timberland, not cash.



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