WA Farm Bureau RMAP committee solicits input, to develop recommendations

Washington Farm Bureau RMAP Update
August 21, 2002

Washington Farm Bureau's RMAP Advisory Committee is soliciting input from small forestland owners as it develops recommendations for changes to the state's Road Maintenance and Abandonment Plan regulations.

 "We need grassroots input to help identify and address legitimate environmental concerns without bankrupting family farms or compromising property rights," said committee chairman Joel Kretz, president of the Okanogan County Farm Bureau. "Solutions need to come from the people living on the land."

As noted in the last RMAP Update, the state Department of Natural Resources expects to submit its recommendations to Gov. Gary Locke and Public Lands Commissioner Doug Sutherland in September. The Farm Bureau RMAP Advisory Committee will work with the Washington Farm Bureau Government Relations Department to develop Farm Bureau's response to the DNR recommendations.

The committee met for the first time Aug. 15, in Wenatchee. In addition to Kretz, committee members include Bob Playfair, vice president of the Stevens County Farm Bureau and president of the Washington Farm Forestry Association; Darlene Hajny, chair of the Okanogan County Farm Bureau Land-Use Planning Committee; and Tom Wynne, South Sound County Farm Bureau member and a member of the Washington Farm Bureau Board of Directors.

At its meeting in Wenatchee, the committee heard from Larry Mason, project coordinator for the Rural Technology Initiative at the University of Washington, which developed the economic study that showed RMAP could cost private landowners as much as $375 million over the next 15 years.

Farm Bureau members can send their suggestions to the committee by e-mail at RMAP@wsfb.com, or by regular mail to RMAP, c/o Washington Farm Bureau, 1011 10th Ave. SE, Olympia, WA 98501.

Related Stories:

7/6/02 - RMAPs Update: A Solution In Sight? by Doug Sutherland, Commissioner of Public Lands

7/16/02 - DNR admits RMAPs may be illegal - Okanogan Chronicle