Morton bill to provide incentives for private landowners to support endangered species habitat passes Legislature

April 21, 2009

Olympia…A bill sponsored by Sen. Bob Morton, R-Kettle Falls, to expand the Riparian Open Space Program to include land outside of stream channels passed the Legislature Monday. 

Substitute Senate Bill 5401 increases the preservation of habitat on private land for federally listed threatened and endangered species. Participating private landowners would receive fair market compensation. 

According to Morton, once an endangered species is identified in a forest area, that protected species pretty much “owns” the land. 

“My bill creates an option for the ‘human owner’ to sell the land to the government entity involved if he or she so chooses.” 

The idea for Morton’s bill came from a work group organized to settle ongoing litigation over the northern spotted owl. 

Since 2001 the state Department of Natural Resources has purchased 583 acres of land where stream water is prone to move and where the movement would result in a potential near-term loss of stream bank (riparian) forest. 

These lands cannot be harvested and are acquired to comply with the state’s Riparian Open Space Program under the state Forest Practices Act. 

The measure was supported by the Washington Farm Forestry Association, the Audubon Society, the Washington Forest Protection Association, the Weyerhaeuser Company, and the state Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Department of Natural Resources. 

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Additional contact: Penny Drost (360) 786-7522 or drost.penny@leg.wa.gov