BY PEPPER FISHER

Port Angeles – The Washington state Department of Natural Resources has plans to log 555 acres in the Elwha Watershed before the end of the year, and Lower Elwha Klallam citizens have launched a petition to try and stop the harvest.

Also objecting to at least one of three sections being considered for sale is the City of Port Angeles, which sent a letter to the Dept. of Natural Resources urging them to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to assess the potential environmental impacts of the proposed 97 acre Alley Cat sale.

The letter describes the potential sale as “of critical concern to the City because the Elwha River is the sole source of potable water for over 20,000 residents of Port Angeles, as well as over 25% of Clallam County’s drinking water supply.”

The City has raised concerns about timber sales within the Elwha Watershed with the Office of the Commissioner of Public Lands since 2022, but says its requests for collaboration and dialogue have been met with resistance. The letter also says, “Despite proposing a Trust Land Transfer to protect the Elwha Watershed, our proposal was denied without meaningful consideration.”

 We asked the City for comment on the letter and the other two areas in the watershed that might go up for bid, and were asked to quote the letter if we needed a comment for this story.

The Lower Elwha Tribe is hosting a free screening of the Award-Winning short film “Last Stand: Saving the Elwha River’s Legacy Forests” this Wednesday, October 30 at the Port Angeles Library from 6:30-7pm, followed by a presentation about logging in the Elwha Watershed and its hydrological impacts.

(Graphic courtesy of elwhalegacyforests.org)

Nick Smith, Public Affairs Director at the American Forest Resource Council, sent us the following counter-point to our story: Dear Pepper: Regarding your story today, the City of Port Angeles’s own 2018 Water System Plan indicates timber harvesting is not expected to impact the Elwha watershed nor local water supplies.

According to the plan (see page 118 of the PDF):

“Timber cannot be harvested from the Olympic National Park which comprises 83 percent of the watershed. However, the entire lower watershed, including the Indian Creek and Little River tributary watersheds, has experienced extensive logging in decades past. Today this lower area is largely second growth conifer forest among the areas of intermittent agricultural and rural residential use. Ongoing and periodic logging on private and DNR lands is expected to continue in the lower watershed and is not expected to present a problem for the City’s Elwha supply. These activities have not presented a problem for the City’s Elwha Ranney collector supply since it was placed into service in 1977.”

What has changed?

Sincerely,

Nick Smith