By Kelly Childers, Compliance Monitoring Field Coordinator, Washington State Department of Natural Resources, kelly.childers@dnr.wa.gov
The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Compliance Monitoring Program was first established in the 1999 Forest and Fish Law, which proposed increasing measures to protect water quality and riparian-dependent species on private and state forestlands in Washington, based on the best available science.
The Compliance Monitoring Program (CMP) was created to help answer the question: Are forest practices being conducted in compliance with the rules?
The goal of CMP is to collect and report data on statewide Forest Practices Rule compliance rates, and monitor compliance trends over time. Sample sites are randomly selected from completed applications and field reviewed in collaboration with representatives from partner agencies such as Department of Ecology, tribes, and region DNR staff. Information is collected in the field based on the type of resource and proposed activity submitted in the Forest Practices Application. Data are analyzed each biennium, and results are then reported to the Forest Practices Board and released to the public.
Findings are used to help us understand areas where DNR can improve education, training, or guidance to help landowners manage their forestland while simultaneously protecting public resources for us all. This can lead to development of trainings, suggestions for rule or form changes, or specific outreach efforts.
My forest practices application was selected for review: now what?
No need to fear! Compliance Monitoring is not an enforcement program. We select specific prescriptions to review for each FPA selected, so you know in advance where we need to go and what we’ll be looking at. Landowners are always welcome and encouraged to attend. Landowner information is not reported or recorded as part of the data collection process. Field reviews typically consist of two to eight people, with some prescriptions requiring participants stationed at different distances from a resource for measuring buffer widths and leave trees.
Activities may include taking distance measurements, counting and measuring leave trees, and looking for stumps of harvested trees within designated no-cut zones. Field reviews are a great opportunity to practice or improve your knowledge of the Forest Practices Rules and to learn more about how the Forest Practices Rules and Board manual guidance inform different management strategies on the ground.
Compliance Monitoring Data Trends Suggest Good Compliance Rates
The Compliance Monitoring Program serves as a tool for understanding the rate of compliance of forest practices activities in our Washington forests with the Forest Practices rules portion of the Washington Administrative Code. We explore trends in compliance rates between small and large forest landowners in every region of the state, working closely with Tribal Nations, DNR, Department of Fish and Wildlife and Department of Ecology staff. The Compliance Monitoring Program examines compliance rates as the total number of rules that were followed accurately divided by the total number of rules assessed for all site visits across the state. CMP staff typically review about 200 samples over the course of the biennium.
Overall, statewide compliance rates for most prescriptions sampled (during the 2020-21 biennium) were above 90 percent. The only exception being non-forested wetlands, which was still relatively high, at 88 percent compliance. This means, most of the time, Forest Practices rules are followed correctly for reviewed prescription types, and resource protections are generally applied adequately in Washington state.
Compliance Monitoring DNR Webpage Updates and StoryMap
Our webpage on the main DNR website Compliance Monitoring | WA – DNR has more information on our program, including an ArcGIS StoryMap. This is a great place to find out more about CMP prior to our upcoming field season. CMP reports are hosted on this page, including our most recent 2020-2021 Biennial Report.
Contact Information
CMP Manager: Mary Murdock – Mary.Murdock@dnr.wa.gov
CMP Field Coordinator: Kelly Childers – Kelly.Childers@dnr.wa.gov
CMP Email: DNRRECOMO@dnr.wa.gov
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