The Washington State Board of Natural Resources approved two transactions to transfer an 80-acre parcel along the Moulton Falls Trail to Clark County during its meeting Tuesday morning.

 

The pair of transactions will create a public park from the parcel along the popular trail south of Yacolt while ensuring that the Common School Trust, which the Washington State Department of Natural Resources supports through its land management across the state, will remain whole financially.

 

“These transactions will allow Clark County to consolidate parkland around the Moulton Falls Trail while making state lands in the area easier to manage in the long term,” said Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz, the elected official who oversees DNR. “I am excited that the years of community support and hard work of staff will create a win-win for the state and the people who recreate along the Lewis River.”

 

 “This partnership between DNR and Clark County preserves this pristine natural area for generations,” said Clark County Council Chair Karen Dill Bowerman. “We appreciate the efforts of DNR and Clark County Legacy Lands staff in bringing this exchange and reconveyance to fruition.”

 

DNR had to pursue the two-transaction approach because only State Forest Transfer Trust properties may be transferred through the reconveyance mechanism. However, state law permits DNR to propose inter-trust exchanges to meet the needs of the trust beneficiaries.

 

The first transaction, the inter-trust exchange, swapped 80 acres of land that supports the Common School Trust, which is managed to fund K-12 school construction across Washington state, for 202 acres of equal-valued State Forest Land in the area that is managed to support local services in Clark County.

 

The second transaction, the reconveyance of the 80 acres, allows Clark County to create a public park along part of the Moulton Falls Trail, while keeping the Common School Trust whole financially. The lands are each appraised at $925,000 in total value between land and timber.

 

As part of the transaction process, DNR held a public meeting in Battle Ground in June 2022 to solicit community feedback in which members of the public were also able to participate remotely. Eighteen people commented in support of the transactions.

 

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