C I N T R A F O R
Special Paper Abstract
Economic and Environmental Impact Assessment of Forest Policy Changes in Western Washington.
Bruce Lippke, B. Bruce Bare, Weihuan Xu, and Martin Mendoza. 1998. (18 pp)
Changing forest practices and the use of no-harvest forest reservations to help protect threatened and endangered species have contributed to the reduction of timber harvests in western Washington. The cumulative economic, biodiversity, and environmental impacts of these actions has been substantial. Policy simulations across 9.4 million acres of timberland show that, relative to proactive management strategies, current habitat conservation and environmental strategies result in net present value reductions of $9.9 billion (23%); sustained employment losses of 30%; tax receipts losses of 26%; no long term impact on the percent of the upland landscape occupied by functionally old forests; and a loss of 28% of similar old forest structures in the riparian zone. These results illustrate the importance of actively managing the riparian zone to provide maximum old forest habitat.