MANAGING LANDSLIDE RISK ON STATE FORESTLANDS IN WESTERN WASHINGTON

The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) manages 1.6 million acres of forestland west of the Cascade Crest and is the single-largest forest landowner in the State. Significant portions of this ownership are prone to mass wasting and the forestry activities that regularly occur on these lands have the potential to accelerate landslide rates and magnitudes. Since 1997, logging operations on DNR-managed lands have been conducted in accordance with a federally-approved Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP). When initially adopted, the HCP lacked a specific strategy for mitigating landslide-related impacts to water quality, fish habitat and public safety. Now, after over a decade of organizational and process changes and improvements, the DNR is implementing a comprehensive landslide risk management strategy across its ownership in western Washington. The strategy has three components: 1) a policy framework that includes specific management goals and objectives, participant roles and responsibilities, and decision-making criteria, 2) an organizational structure that includes a central pool of licensed geologists who provide earth sciences-related consulting services to a staff of foresters and engineers charged with administering timber sales, and 3) an environmental review process that includes landslide risk analyses conducted by licensed geologists, landslide risk assessments conducted by managers, and regulatory oversight under the State’s Forest Practices Rules. A fourth component, a research and monitoring program, is currently being developed and is intended to address key forestry-landslide cause-and-effect relationships and evaluate the effectiveness of various mitigation measures. DNR's landslide risk management strategy is intended to allow the agency to fufill its legal mandate of generating timber revenue for a range of trust beneficiaries while ensuring that public resources and public safety are protected from forestry-related landslides.