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	Sept. 2, 2004 Sims signs extraordinary Snoqualmie Forest preservation agreement of national merit Jointly released by King County Executive Ron Sims and Hancock Timber Resource Group King County Executive Ron Sims today signed one of the nation's largest forest preservation agreements for land in a major urban area with the $22 million purchase of development rights to the Snoqualmie Forest from Hancock Timber Resource Group. Sims' signature guarantees more than 90,000 acres of the Snoqualmie Forest will remain working forest. It reinforces the urban growth line, protects timber industry jobs, acts as a buffer to the Alpine Lakes Wilderness area and ensures the area will always remain green to the crest of the Cascade Mountains. King County Executive Ron Sims signs the Snoqualmie Forest preservation agreement while (from left) John Davis, western regional manager for Hancock Timber, County Council Chairman Larry Phillips and Gene Duvernoy, executive director, Cascade Land Conservancy, look on. "This is a piece of land nearly twice the size of the City of Seattle and five times the size of Bellevue that will always be part of the rural character of East King County," said Executive Sims. "The wall against sprawl we've spent years creating is now reinforced to forever protect East King County quality of life. Instead of a suburb envisioned for this area two decades ago, we will leave a legacy of open space, timber jobs and a buffer for the Cascade wilderness for generations to come. Mount Si and Snoqualmie Forest "This was a challenging three-year process that couldn't have succeeded without the help of County Council Chairman Larry Phillips, the support of the Cascade Land Conservancy and the vision of its president, Gene Duvernoy," Sims said. "Gene was instrumental in bringing all parties together and was steadfast in keeping all parties at the table during critical negotiations." In addition to purchase of development rights on 90,000 acres, King County will purchase 150 acres of land along the Tolt River to protect critical chinook salmon spawning habitat. The transaction is expected to close later this fall. This development rights agreement is viewed by the Land Conservancy as one of the most significant in the nation given the size of the forest and its short distance from Seattle. "Last year the Council earmarked money for purchasing the development rights," said Larry Phillips, Chair of the Metropolitan King County Council. "When I hiked the Tree Farm as a Boy Scout, I had no idea I'd be working as an adult to save it for my son and generations to follow. Before Weyerhaeuser sold the farm to Hancock Timber, I advocated for purchasing the development rights so the plateau's winding streams would never turn into winding streets. Hancock will continue to own and log the land responsibly while the people of King County will hold the development rights. This part of the Cascade foothills will remain accessible to everyone, and never serve as a pedestal for rows of hill-top mansions." Prior to the passage of the Growth Management Act 10 years ago, the Snoqualmie Forest, formerly known as the Snoqualmie Tree Farm, was envisioned as a natural target for suburban development to provide homes for the county's expanding population. Since the act's passage and adoption of King County's Comprehensive Plan, rural growth has slowed from 12 percent of the countywide total to approximately four percent. This slowed growth rate was accomplished with a combination of regulations that target growth in urban areas, incentives and the purchase of properties and conservation easements. "Cascade Land Conservancy has worked for many years with the county to conserve this most critical component of our region's Cascade Foothills," said Gene Duvernoy, conservancy executive director. "This dream has finally become reality because of the leadership of Executive Sims and his partnership with Council Chair Larry Phillips. Fuller Mountain "Purchase of the development rights from the Snoqualmie Forest fairly compensates the landowner for the development value of the property, while ensuring that the foothills forests will remain green and productive - providing ecological and economic benefits to everyone in our region," Duvernoy continued. "With this incredible transaction, Executive Sims and King County again demonstrate that environmental gain and economic vitality can go hand-in-hand as we implement our Cascade Foothills Initiative." Snoqualmie Forest - Cascade Foothills John Davis, western regional manager for Hancock Timber, said the company has a long-standing commitment to working with communities to conserve sensitive lands and is extremely pleased to be able to join with King County and the Cascade Land Conservancy in preserving the Snoqualmie Forest. "When we purchased the property, we said we wanted to work with conservation interests and the county to preserve the environmental features that make this forest so special," Davis said. "It's enormously satisfying to have achieved this common goal. Snoqualmie will remain a working forest with all of the economic, conservation and recreational values that come with a working forest." Hancock Timber, which acquired the Snoqualmie Forest in March 2003 from Weyerhaeuser, has a long-standing commitment to environmental stewardship. The company has conserved more than 200,000 acres of environmentally significant lands that would be better managed under public or conservation ownership by arranging their acquisition by appropriate organizations. These include 10 transactions totaling more than 11,000 acres in Washington state alone. Hancock Timber's conservation accomplishments have been honored with awards from groups including The Nature Conservancy, The Conservation Fund, Trout Unlimited and the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife. The Conservation Futures Tax is being used to purchase the Snoqualmie Forest development rights. In the past 15 years, about $175 million in Conservation Futures revenues have been spent throughout King County to protect 15,000 acres of land at a cost of approximately $11,666 per acre. Most of the previous purchases were for ownership of the land. The Snoqualmie Forest development rights transaction protects 90,000 acres for $22 million or $244 per acre. "The bang for the buck on this is huge," said Sims. "While current regulations would prevent a large number of homes from being built on a majority of this land, as time goes by the pressure will intensify to develop this area that is such a short drive to the Seattle metropolitan area. Since the county will own the development rights, it will get the benefit of preserving open space while not having the expense of maintaining the land." The Conservation Futures Tax is a revenue source authorized by state law (RCW 84.34.230) for the purposes of acquiring and conserving open space and resource lands. The tax is collected on all taxable property in the county. The money can only be used for the acquisition of open space and resource lands that must remain in open space or resource land uses and cannot be developed. 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