EVERETT — Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark on Monday defended his leadership after the deadly Oso mudslide and has requested $10 million in the next state budget to better assess the risk of logging in landslide-prone areas.
If Goldmark’s proposal is approved by the governor and the Legislature, the state Department of Natural Resources would receive $6.6 million to map thousands of acres with high-precision Lidar technology to get a better idea of where potentially devastating landslides might occur. That information would be available to cities, counties, residents and those seeking to log, he said.
Another $3.2 million would be used to hire six foresters and two geologists to boost the agency’s oversight of thousands of logging applications each year. Today there are 45 field staffers, he said.
“Slides are going to happen, but we want to make sure the timber harvest doesn’t make them more frequent or more severe,” Goldmark told The Daily Herald editorial board Monday during a visit to the newspaper.
He submitted the request last month to Gov. Jay Inslee, who will consider including the allocations in a budget proposal due in December.
Goldmark, a scientist and rancher, is in his second term as lands commissioner, whose duties include overseeing the harvest of timber on public and private land.
He is the man entrusted by voters to make sure logging doesn’t trigger destructive landslides. Monday marked one of the few times he’s commented publicly since the March disaster, which claimed 43 lives and wiped out a neighborhood.
Goldmark used the opportunity to highlight what he termed a “rapid response” to the catastrophic geologic event, referring to a decision in May to require additional scientific reports about soil at logging sites on or near unstable slopes — especially where geology is similar to that of Oso.
“I think I’ve taken appropriate steps for an emergency,” he said. “I feel we have done everything we could right after the slide to ensure the public safety aspect by requiring additional review by geologists.”
At the time, environmentalists and some members of the state Forest Practices Board wanted to halt all logging in areas of glacial sediment where landslides have occurred.
Dave Somers, a Snohomish County councilman and a member of the Forest Practices Board, proposed a moratorium on logging. He backed off amid questions about the state-appointed panel’s power to ban timber harvests.
Goldmark asked Attorney General Bob Ferguson for advice and is still awaiting an opinion.
“I’m a little disappointed it’s taking so long to get the A.G. opinion,” Somers said Monday. “I personally think we ought to put in extra precautions around these areas.”
Goldmark doesn’t share that opinion. He opposes a ban of timber harvests in landslide-prone areas and contended that the change he ordered will ensure the state has information it needs to make good decisions on logging requests in hazardous areas.
“I think the path forward is much better than a moratorium,” he said.
Meanwhile, the state Department of Natural Resources continues to investigate decisions regarding a 7.5-acre clearcut atop Hazel Hill in 2004 and the manner in which the trees were felled.
In the days following the Oso landslide, there was speculation of a possible link between that harvest and this year’s tragedy. Goldmark initially sounded pretty convinced there was no connection, but he did order an investigation of decision-making during the watch of his predecessor, Doug Sutherland.
“That investigation is still ongoing. We hope to have it done in the near future,” he said.
Meantime, Goldmark won’t speculate about what did trigger the unprecedented event. He’s aware of numerous legal claims filed as a result of the disaster.
He said the most comprehensive look to date appears to be the July report of the GEER Association. GEER stands for Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance. The organization mobilizes geologists and engineers to study natural disasters that damage infrastructure.
It concluded that the mudslide was largely triggered by a previous landslide in the same area in 2006, but there is no clear cause of what made that old slide come back to life, aside from the presence of a great deal of water in the soil.
“As to what caused the landslide, I think in all frankness the GEER Report is as close as you’re going to get until we go to trial over the tort claims,” Goldmark said.
Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
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