From a press release:

The Board of Natural Resources this week got its first look at a proposal from the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) that broadly outlines the environmental review process for calculating how much timber can be sustainably harvested from state trust lands over the next ten years.

When eventually completed, the sustainable harvest calculation will be DNR’s guide to managing state forestlands to generate revenue and preserve habitat and clean water. As the agency works to complete the sustainable harvest calculation, it will also concurrently develop a long-term conservation strategy to help the threatened marbled murrelet, a seabird that needs large evergreen trees for nesting.

“It’s important to plan carefully and strategically for both the marbled murrelet and sustainable harvest, because they are linked,” Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark, who chairs the Board of Natural Resources, said in a press release. DNR’s long-term conservation strategy for the murrelet will set aside certain vital areas essential to the bird’s survival and determine DNR land management practices near their habitat.

The board took no action on the sustainable harvest proposal at today’s meeting. If the proposal is approved by the board at a future meeting, DNR will develop a calculation of how many board feet of timber can be sustainably harvested from state trust lands in western Washington between 2015 and 2024. That calculation and any alternatives would then be subject to public review under the State Environmental Policy Act. The board’s policies and state law require DNR to calculate new sustainable harvest levels every ten years.

The board’s next scheduled meeting is Jan. 6, 2015.