(1) The legislature finds that a state-led cost-sharing program is necessary to assist small forest landowners with removing and replacing fish passage barriers that were added to their land prior to May 14, 2003, to help achieve the goals of the forests and fish report, and to assist small forest landowners in complying with the state's fish passage requirements.

     (2) The small forest landowner office must, in cooperation with the department of fish and wildlife, establish a program designed to assist small forest landowners with repairing or removing fish passage barriers and assist lead entities in acquiring the data necessary to fill any gaps in fish passage barrier information. The small forest landowner office and the department of fish and wildlife must work closely with lead entities or other local watershed groups to make maximum use of current information regarding the location and priority of current fish passage barriers. Where additional fish passage barrier inventories are necessary, funding will be sought for the collection of this information. Methods, protocols, and formulas for data gathering and prioritizing must be developed in consultation with the department of fish and wildlife. The department of fish and wildlife must assist in the training and management of fish passage barrier location data collection.

     (3) The small forest landowner office must actively seek out funding for the program authorized in this section. The small forest landowner office must work with consenting landowners to identify and secure funding from local, state, federal, tribal, or nonprofit habitat restoration organizations and other private sources, including the salmon recovery funding board, the United States department of agriculture, the United States department of transportation, the Washington state department of transportation, the United States department of commerce, and the federal highway administration.

     (4)(a) Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, the small forest landowner office, in implementing the program established in this section, must provide the highest proportion of public funding available for the removal or replacement of any fish passage barrier.

     (b) In no case shall a small forest landowner be required to pay more than the lesser of either: (i) Twenty-five percent of any costs associated with the removal or replacement of a particular fish passage barrier; or (ii) five thousand dollars for the removal or replacement of a particular fish passage barrier. No small forest landowner shall be required to pay more than the maximum total annual costs in (c) of this subsection.

     (c) The portion of the total cost of removing or replacing fish passage barriers that a small forest landowner must pay in any calendar year shall be determined based on the average annual timber volume harvested from the landowner's lands in this state during the three preceding calendar years, and whether the fish passage barrier is in eastern or western Washington.

     (i) In western Washington (west of the Cascade Crest), a small forest landowner who has harvested an average annual timber volume of less than five hundred thousand board feet shall not be required to pay more than a total of eight thousand dollars during that calendar year, a small forest landowner who has harvested an annual average timber volume between five hundred thousand and nine hundred ninety-nine thousand board feet shall not be required to pay more than a total of sixteen thousand dollars during that calendar year, a small forest landowner who has harvested an average annual timber volume between one million and one million four hundred ninety-nine thousand board feet shall not be required to pay more than a total of twenty-four thousand dollars during that calendar year, and a small forest landowner who has harvested an average annual timber volume greater than or equal to one million five hundred thousand board feet shall not be required to pay more than a total of thirty-two thousand dollars during that calendar year, regardless of the number of fish passage barriers removed or replaced on the landowner's lands during that calendar year.

     (ii) In eastern Washington (east of the Cascade Crest), a small forest landowner who has harvested an average annual timber volume of less than five hundred thousand board feet shall not be required to pay more than a total of two thousand dollars during that calendar year, a small forest landowner who has harvested an annual average timber volume between five hundred thousand and nine hundred ninety-nine thousand board feet shall not be required to pay more than a total of four thousand dollars during that calendar year, a small forest landowner who has harvested an average annual timber volume between one million and one million four hundred ninety-nine thousand board feet shall not be required to pay more than a total of twelve thousand dollars during that calendar year, and a small forest landowner who has harvested an average annual timber volume greater than or equal to one million five hundred thousand board feet shall not be required to pay more than a total of sixteen thousand dollars during that calendar year, regardless of the number of fish passage barriers removed or replaced on the landowner's lands during that calendar year.

     (iii) Maximum total annual costs for small forest landowners with fish passage barriers in both western and eastern Washington shall be those specified under (c)(i) and (ii) of this subsection.

     (d) If an existing fish passage barrier on land owned by a small forest landowner was installed under an approved forest practices application or notification, and hydraulics approval, and that fish passage barrier becomes a high priority for fish passage based on the watershed ranking in *RCW 76.13.150, one hundred percent public funding shall be provided.

     (5) If a small forest landowner is required to contribute a portion of the funding under the cost-share program established in this section, that landowner may satisfy his or her required proportion by providing either direct monetary contributions or in-kind services to the project. In-kind services may include labor, equipment, materials, and other landowner-provided services determined by the department to have an appropriate value to the removal of a particular fish passage barrier.

     (6)(a) The department, using fish passage barrier assessments and ranked inventory information provided by the department of fish and wildlife and the appropriate lead entity as delineated in RCW 77.12.755, must establish a prioritized list for the funding of fish passage barrier removals on property owned by small forest landowners that ensures that funding is provided first to the known fish passage barriers existing on forest land owned by small forest landowners that cause the greatest harm to public resources.

     (b) As the department collects information about the presence of fish passage barriers from submitted checklists, it must share this information with the department of fish and wildlife and the technical advisory groups established in **RCW 77.85.070. If the addition of the information collected in the checklists or any other changes to the scientific instruments described in RCW 77.12.755 alter the analysis conducted under RCW 77.12.755, the department must alter the funding order appropriately to reflect the new information.

     (7) The department may accept commitments from small forest landowners that they will participate in the program to remove fish passage barriers from their land at any time, regardless of the funding order given to the fish passage barriers on a particular landowner's property.

[2003 c 311 § 7.]

NOTES:

     Reviser's note: *(1) The reference to RCW 76.13.150 appears to be erroneous. Reference to RCW 77.12.755 was apparently intended.

     **(2) RCW 77.85.070 was repealed by 2005 c 309 § 10.

     Findings -- Effective date -- 2003 c 311: See notes following RCW 76.09.020.