WA Wild Coordinates Letter to Protect State Forest Lands With Support From More Than 130 Washington Stakeholders
On January 27, 136 elected officials, small businesses, and conservation, recreation, and wildlife organizations from around Washington State signed a letter to key capital budget leaders in the Washington State Legislature supporting funding to protect state forest lands under the Trust Land Transfer (TLT) Program.
Photo by: Chris Bauer @cascadia.photography
The letter demonstrates strong support for this program from a diversity of stakeholders, including elected officials, local land trusts, and local businesses that support recreational opportunities and contribute to rural economies. Support is evident from all corners of the state, including both urban and rural communities.
The letter asks key capital budget leaders in the Washington State House and Senate to support a $29 million request to create TLT projects. These projects will create long term management for conservation and recreation and provide the opportunity to purchase more productive replacement lands for trust beneficiaries.
Background on Washington’s Trust Land Transfer Program
Trust Land Transfer, also known as TLT, is a conservation tool. It allows the state to conserve ecologically and socially valuable state trust land. TLT transfers state land to another entity, or to the Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) Natural Areas Program, which will manage the land for its conservation values. The legislature must approve and fund the transfer of particular projects. Legislative funding is used to buy revenue generating land elsewhere for trust beneficiaries.
The Washington State DNR manages millions of acres of land to generate non tax revenue for trust beneficiaries. TLT exists to put underperforming state trust land under the ownership of the appropriate land management agency while keeping the trusts whole. Many state trust lands are not optimal for revenue generation and are sought after by communities for open space and recreation. Still others have rare plant species or significant limitations due to steep slopes, salmon streams, or other ecological constraints.
DNR seeks to take these lands out of trust status and use a legislative appropriation to purchase replacement land to ensure trust beneficiaries do not lose revenue. TLT is the only tool the state has to do this work.
TLT was started in 1989 by a coalition of conservationists, the timber industry, Tribes, and others to conserve ecologically valuable state trust land that could not or should not provide revenue to trust beneficiaries. Over the first 30 years of the program, the legislature invested nearly $800 million to conserve more than 120,000 acres of state land.
Photo By: Kevin Thompson
Wallace Falls State Park
Many places Washingtonians hike, recreate, and care about today exist because of TLT. The program was used to create areas such as the Mount Si Natural Resources Conservation Area, West Tiger Mountain Natural Resources Conservation Area, and aspects of many state parks, including Deception Pass State Park and Lake Sammamish State Park.
The breadth of support behind this letter reflects a shared understanding across Washington that TLT works and deserves continued investment.
