PORT ANGELES – Environmental studies about the marbled murrelet and its financial impact on the state’s junior taxing districts have been going on since 2006. Clallam County is now pitching in money for another impact study.
Mason, Bruce & Girard is a Portland, Oregon, based consulting firm specializing in sustained yield forestry.
We spoke with Commissioner Bill Peach about the financials of hiring this consulting firm.
“$120,000 will be collected from a number of counties and the DNR. Our contribution in Clallam County is $7500. The money goes into a pool that’s to be used for the payment of a contract. Mason, Bruce & Girard was the preferred bidder and the contract was awarded to them. Their work is to be completed by September 30 2020.”
Peach said that with the long history this issue has within Washington, it is his hope that this new consulting firm will fill in some of the holes that have been left out of past studies.
“If there was no quantification of the impact which just is unbelievable to me. And how many years since 2006 of analyzing and you forget to actually answer the question: ‘What school district are you going to impact?’ So this is going to provide that information. And a couple of things that it could be used for is approaching the state legislature about assistance about reimbursement about trying to somehow recognize the impact that is created by this particular legislation and give a sense. Is it just a 10,000 dollar issue or a ten million dollar one.”
Peach pointed out that as a result of this study, the junior taxing districts will have specific information about the financial impacts they experience each year. They can then take those concerns directly to state legislators for the help they need.
“I just took the newly elected fire commissioner for district four and met with him in Olympia last week to go around to all of our elected legislators and seek advice. You know, what is it that they have as a recommendations to help a very small fire district with not very much money to work with to get through the situation that they’re dealing with. And consistently their response was we need to see what the impact is. This study that’s coming up they know about it and are looking forward to seeing it.”