Forest fight in Congress

Forces behind a bold attempt to preserve thousands of acres of working forest in Snohomish, King and Pierce counties are looking to Congress for the go-ahead to raise millions of dollars that would jump-start the effort.

Collaborators in the Cascade Foothills Initiative are trying to sustain logging, hiking and other recreational pursuits on 650,000 acres, preventing the land’s conversion into subdivisions and shopping malls.

Bills pending in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives would give the nonprofit Evergreen Trust Fund the legal power it needs to sell tax-exempt bonds and use that money to begin buying development rights on targeted parcels.

"It is a good way to give communities a tool to protect threatened lands without jeopardizing land, jobs or the rights of landowners," said Alex Glass, spokeswoman for Sen. Patty Murray, who is pushing support for the nonprofit’s request.

"It is a very noncontroversial provision and the urgency is there," said Tom Tuchmann, president of Oregon-based U.S. Forest Capitol. "This would be a great first start."

Preserving this vast amount of land is not cheap or easy. Once willing sellers are found, their price — $1,000 to $15,000 an acre — must be met.

In February, when county executives from Snohomish, King and Pierce counties added their signatures to a nonbinding commitment to protect the land, they promised not to siphon tax dollars for the effort.

Attention focused on tax-exempt bonds. They are attractive because sellers have less overhead and buyers do have to pay taxes on interest they earn. Because of that benefit, federal rules require that these bonds can only be sold if the money raised is spent to enhance a public benefit.

Currently, federal law does not recognize forest conservation as a public benefit. The proposed provision is precedent setting by spelling out the value of preserving and protecting forestry activities.

If approved, Evergreen Trust, run by a board comprised of civic, business and environmental leaders, would buy land and donate it to Cascade Land Conservancy. The conservancy would be responsible for using revenues from the ongoing forest operation to pay off bond holders.

The push for bond selling authority is being made on two fronts.

In the Senate, a provision authored by Murray, D-Wash., and Gordon Smith, R-Oregon, would make it a nationwide program and allow up to $1.5 billion in bonds to be issued.

In the House of Representatives, Rep. Jennifer Dunn, R-Bellevue, succeeded in getting language into a bill on charitable giving that would set a cap of $252 million in tax-exempt bonds to be sold for forest conservation in Washington state only.

Of the two, the Senate bill is viewed as having the best chance of reaching the president’s desk.

The problem is that the bill is one of the most bloated pieces of legislation — 930 pages — under debate. Lawmakers know they must act, or invite more sanctions, but no one is sure what they will be voting on.

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