Thurston County Superior Court No. 02-2-00490-1

Washington Forest Practices Appeals Board No. 00-029

CLIENTS: The Mountaineers and two citizens of the town of Wilkeson, Washington

STATUS: Sept. 2005, stayed in Superior Court pending a resolution of ALPS v. FPB and ALPS v. Ecology

BACKGROUND: This case involved a series of large ugly Plum Creek Timber Company clear-cuts one mile from the Carbon River entrance to Mount Rainier National Park. This is an area in which Plum Creek has conducted extensive clear-cut logging next to the Park over a number of years.

There were two primary issues in the original case. The first issue is whether forest landowners, like Plum Creek, may incrementally file permits that are individually exempt from review under the State Environmental Policy Act when, cumulatively, these exemptions are having serious adverse impacts on wildlife and the scenic beauty of the area.

The second issue is whether the Department of Natural Resources must take into account the impact on aesthetic values when approving logging proposals adjacent to recreationally- and scenically-significant places, such as national parks and major public hiking trails.

WFLC, on behalf of the Mountaineers, obtained a precedent-setting ruling from the Forest Practices Appeals Board. The Appeals Board ruled that the Department of Natural Resources must take into account the cumulative environmental effect of “operationally linked” logging when it approves permits such as Plum Creek’s. The Appeals Board did not rule on what “operationally linked” means but held it does not include logging permits that are merely adjacent to one another. The ruling evoked the filing of two other cases related to the cumulative effects of multiple forest practices in a specific area.

Click here to learn how this case is related to our other cumulative effects cases.