Trust Land Transfer (TLT) Program Update
John Sherwin is a former Board President of IATC and a member of the Trust Land Transfer Advisory Committee.
As a result of the great work IATC and others did to assure we have a sustainable, transparent, and effective DNR Trust Land Transfer (TLT) program, thirty-four TLT applications were submitted in September 2023. Thirty applications satisfying the best interests of the trust were selected to be prioritized by the inaugural TLT Advisory Committee. The Committee was created through an application process, and applicants were selected by the DNR Lands Commissioner Hillary Franz. Twelve members, including myself, were appointed in May. We were tasked with carefully reviewing each application and applying the newly developed prioritization/ranking criteria to score the submissions. The scoring results for the Committee were aggregated with the resulting overall scores, determining the ordered list of applications to be funded.
Red arrows show the Providence Point, Issaquah Creek, Carey Creek parcels from top to bottom
It was great to see so many applications submitted! IATC advocates were responsible for identifying candidate parcels and brought them to the attention of King County (Kelly Heintz and Sam Jarrett) and City of Sammamish Parks (Anjali Myer). Three applications were then submitted: Carey Creek (76 acres), Issaquah Creek (180 acres), and Providence Point in Sammamish (39 acres). For the Carey Creek and Issaquah Creek parcels, IATC advocates had the pleasure of working closely with Judy Blanco (King County Basin Steward) to complete the TLT application which included site scouting, documenting, and gathering testimonials. Myself, the DNR TLT Program team, and other TLT Advisory Committee members were highly impressed with the quality of the three applications, as reflected in the finalized rankings that scored them well amongst other very strong applications. Without the great work of IATC advocates, the three applications would not have been submitted. Great job team!
After the TLT Advisory Committee completed assigning prioritization scores in early August, the TLT program team (Kenny Ocker and Robin Hammill) averaged the scores and created a list of ranked applications. They then determined the estimated value of the lands to be transferred. The following parcels were determined to be fundable with the current $30 million yearly cap on the TLT program. Note that the cap was added to the TLT program legislation under pressure from the timber industry.
Beckler 6 (King County): 676-acres 4 miles north of Skykomish will be transferred to the Tulalip Tribes and continue to be managed for conservation. The Beckler River bisects the parcel, which is surrounded by the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest on three sides and is more than 3 miles from the nearest DNR-managed parcel. DNR currently manages the parcel as long-term forest cover under its State Uplands Habitat Conservation Plan with the federal government.
Okanogan G (Okanagan County): 42-acres 1 mile south of Twisp will be transferred to the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation to restore and maintain riparian habitat along the Methow River. DNR had previously managed the parcel under a grazing lease before designating the parcel for disposal in 2019 because of the minimal revenue it generated. The parcel is approximately 2 miles from the nearest DNR-managed parcels.
Tract C (Yakima County): 9,936 acres will be transferred to the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation. The land is on the western edge of the Ahtanum State Forest, approximately 25 miles west of Yakima, and Tract C North and Tract C South are both in checkerboard ownership with Yakama Nation lands. The parcels are in the usual and accustomed areas of the Yakama Nation, and they have minimal potential to generate revenue for DNR’s trust beneficiaries.
Babcock Bench (Grant County): 1,235 acres 6 miles southwest of Quincy will be transferred to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to be managed as part of the Quincy Lakes Unit of the Columbia Basin Wildlife Area. The parcels include habitat for a host of plant and animal species of concern, including shrub-steppe ecosystems and roosting for at least eight species of bats.
South Lake Ozette (Clallam County): 372 acres 12 miles northwest of Forks, would be transferred to the Quileute Tribe for conservation and cultural purposes. This is directly south of Olympic National Park and includes two creeks that drain into Lake Ozette and provides habitat for the endangered Lake Ozette sockeye salmon run as well as the federally threatened marbled murrelet and Northern spotted owl. This will allow Quileute Tribe access to cultural important cedar bark and other plants.
Middle Fork Snoqualmie (King County): 95 acres located 2 miles southeast of North Bend will be transferred to DNR’s Natural Areas Program and added to the Middle Fork Snoqualmie Natural Resources Conservation Area. The majority of this is unavailable for timber harvest because of buffers to protect water quality, is currently managed as long-term forest cover. It is adjacent to the Middle Fork Snoqualmie NRCA to the east and west, and it is already within the long-term boundaries of the conservation area.
The TLT program team presented this list to the DNR Board at their monthly meeting on September 4, which the Board accepted and will formally submit to the legislature for funding in 2025 (see official DNR press release). It was extremely gratifying to see applications from the tribes top-ranked and be part of the first parcels to be transferred in the new TLT program. It was especially powerful to have the applications for the Tract C parcels comprising nearly 10,000 acres approved for return to the Yakama Nation after a long and unfortunate dispute over the land between Washington State and the Yakama Nation.
View from Beckler 6 along the Beckler River
In early September, I had the opportunity to visit the Beckler 6 parcel with representatives of the Tulalip Tribes and DNR folks including Kenny and Robin to celebrate Beckler 6 making the top of the list. We bushwhacked from the NFS Beckler River Road and explored gravel and sand beds along the Beckler River. Brett Shattuck, Tulalip senior stewardship scientist, led us to pools of juvenile Coho salmon. This included a mix of young salmon that will spend a year in these pools, as well as more mature yearlings that will swim to the Pacific Ocean once rains increase flow volumes this year. We made our way down to the Beckler River, which opened up stellar views of the surrounding Wild Sky Wilderness. The Beckler 6 parcel is a gem and a great example of why the TLT program is such a powerful and important tool for conserving land in Washington State.
We will continue to update the IATC community on the status of the first round of TLT program transfers. Please spread the word about the TLT program! During the legislative session, we will provide updates on how to tell your Washington State elected officials you support the program and would like to see funding increased. You can also help IATC identify potential DNR trust lands that are great candidates for transfer like Carey Creek, Issaquah Creek, and Providence Point. If this work interests you, please reach out to IATC Board President, Kelly Jiang, at kelly.jiang@issaquahalps.org.
Please reach out to me at john@johnsherwin.net if you have any questions about the TLT program and the work required to assure projects are funded during the 2025-2027 legislative biennium and the TLT program continues to evolve and increase impact.
Join us at the IATC Public Forum 2024: Funding Conservation in the 21st Century. Don’t miss this opportunity to meet some of the experts involved in the TLT Program and learn more about local conservation efforts.
Thursday, October 17 | Blakely Hall , Issaquah Highlands