Months after the tragedy that took the lives of 43 people, the Oso landslide is still top of mind.
That’s as it should be as state and local officials make decisions about how to prevent, or at least prepare for the next major landslide. Three news items demonstrate:
In Olympia, legislators are considering two proposals among many drafted in response to the landslide.
One would clarify the rules that are supposed to allow first responders to mobilize statewide emergency resources, as Herald Writer Jerry Cornfield reported Tuesday. During the response in Oso, the additional resources were initially denied because of an interpretation that held the resources were meant only for wildfires. They aren’t, as we’ve pointed out previously, but clarification of the rule should remove all doubt and allow for timely allocation of support in all disasters.
Another piece of legislation requested by the state Department of Natural Resources would allocate $6.5 million to map and inventory areas prone to landslides using lidar technology, which uses airborne lasers to measure topography and produce detailed maps that can show potential hazards, as public radio station KPLU reported Tuesday. The database of information would then be available to the state, cities, counties, businesses and individuals as land-use decisions are made.
Here in Snohomish County, the Department of Natural Resources has suspended the 119-acre Deer Wrap timber sale near Index on state-managed land after a forest watchdog group challenged the state’s issuance of an application for the sale. State forestry officials in Sedro-Woolley judged there to be a low probability for slides in the area, a finding challenged by the Washington Forest Law Center, the Seattle Times reported on Tuesday. The state forestry agency is now taking the time to take a closer look at the area and decide whether to go ahead with the sale, redesign it or cancel it altogether.
A review is warranted, considering the steep slopes below the proposed harvest, which overlooks the North Fork Skykomish River, a major BNSF railroad line, U.S. 2 and the town of Index, itself. The state’s own Forest Practices Board in November rewrote its rules to require more geotechnical data prior to timber harvests on private land. An abundance of caution calls for the state to adhere to standards that are just as stringent, if not more so, than required for harvests on private land.
The Department of Natural Resources’ work has been complicated by significant budget cuts and an increase in timber-sale applications. If the state is going to manage timber sales and do so in a manner that protects public safety, property and transportation infrastructure, its agencies must be adequately funded. Likewise, the state also must make the necessary investments, such as the lidar mapping and the allocation of disaster resources that were outlined in the report by the Highway 530 Landslide Commission and by others.
None of this comes cheaply. State taxpayers will be asked for their share, but the state should also reexamine the excise tax it levies on timber harvests. Currently a 5 percent tax is charged on the harvest’s value, money that’s split, 4 percent for the county and 1 percent for the state. An additional fraction that would go toward administering the harvests seems a fair way to manage that resource.
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