QUILCENE — The state Natural Resources Board has approved a transfer of 384 acres of school trust land to expand the Dabob Bay Natural Area in southeast Jefferson County.

The state Department of Natural Resources supports the land transfer through the state’s Trust Land Transfer Program, which uses funds approved by the Legislature.

The transfer, which the resources board approved last week, adds to the existing Dabob Bay preserve’s 195 acres of coastal spits and estuary habitats with native vegetation and riparian, marine and wildlife habitat.

The transfer does not add money to the Common School Trust, but it reimburses the trust for the $2.8 million value of the land and timber, which effectively puts those funds into future school construction.

The parcels transferred were identified by the state’s Natural Heritage Program as beneficial to protecting the area’s unique natural features, including shellfish beds in the bay.

Public input

Three public meetings were conducted in Quilcene — two last year and one in May — about the expansion of the nature area and transfer of the trust lands.

“One thing they did was redraw the boundary,” DNR spokesman Bob Redling said, adding that the changes were minimal.

“It’s more of an ecological boundary,” he said.

The 384 acres is public property, but Redling said private land being sold by willing property owners is also possible.

Jefferson County Commissioner Phil Johnson said the county ended up with about $450,000 in additional timber value with the latest boundary arrangement.

The boundary was changed where it runs across the water, he said; it was within what could be considered an economic development code, primarily for shellfish harvesting from Dabob Bay’s beaches.

Heart of oyster farms

The pristine bay is at the heart of the state’s largest concentration of oyster farms along Hood Canal.

The proposed expansion area includes coastal bluffs and shorelines that provide sediment and woody debris that conservationists say is needed for continued healthy ecological function of the coastal spits, benefiting the Dabob shellfish industry.

Old-timers, shellfish farmers, loggers, conservationists, property owners, government leaders and land-use defenders gathered in October at Quilcene High School’s multipurpose room to express views from angry opposition to vehement support of the Dabob Bay Natural Preserve proposal.

Many told DNR to leave conservation to the people.

The proposal to protect much of the remote, sparsely developed and habitat-rich bay known for its namesake oysters is backed by the Washington Natural Heritage Program, a state advisory group that studies and recommends DNR ecosystems for preservation.

Offset revenue loss

The land swap is geared to stem the loss of county junior taxing district revenues, such as those to fire protection and water districts.

The state Legislature allocated $5 million in 2005-2007 to preserve the land.

The proposal would ultimately add up to 3,565 acres of upland and 2,440 acres of aquatic lands to the natural area preserve boundary and involve complicated land swaps of steep, unstable, nonproductive DNR timberlands for productive uplands.

When the DNR natural areas program acquires land from a willing seller, it makes a payment to the county in lieu of taxes on that land so that the county does not lose revenue.

The lands with steep slopes adjacent to Dabob Bay would not be harvested under current forest practices.

Native Olympia oysters, which pollution and over-harvesting nearly wiped out throughout the Northwest, still can be found in the bay.

Land trust support

Jefferson Land Trust and other conservation organizations with representatives supporting the proposal were Admiralty Audubon and The Nature Conservancy.

Olympic Forest Coalition recently wrote to Jefferson County commissioners stating, “It is imperative that all of us protect such unique and pristine ecosystem such as that found in the proposed” Dabob Natural Area Preserve.

Opposing groups included Port Angeles-based North Olympic Timber Action Committee, the Washington chapter of American Forest Resource Council, a timber industry group, and the Olympic Stewardship Foundation, which is based in Jefferson County.

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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.