WAC 222-22-070   Prescriptions and management strategies.  *(1) For each WAU for which a watershed analysis is undertaken, the department, or forest land owner acting under WAC 222-22-040(3), shall assemble a team of field managers qualified under WAC 222-22-030(1). The team shall include persons qualified in the disciplines indicated as necessary in watershed analysis methods, and shall generally include a person or persons qualified in the following:

     (a) Forest resource management;

     (b) Forest harvest and road systems engineering;

     (c) Forest hydrology;

     (d) Fisheries science or management;

     (e) Cultural anthropology and/or archaeology, depending on the cultural resources identified in the assessment.

     Any owner, and any cooperating group of owners, of ten percent or more of the nonfederal forest land acreage in the WAU and any affected Indian tribe shall be entitled to include one qualified individual to participate on the team at its own expense. The cultural resources module must include the participation of the affected Indian tribe(s). See board manual section 11, J. Cultural Resources Module, Introduction, 1) Using this methodology in formal watershed analysis.

     *(2) Each forest land owner in a WAU shall have the right to submit to the department or the forest land owner conducting the watershed analysis prescriptions for areas of resource sensitivity on its land. If these prescriptions are received within the time period described in subsection (4) of this section, they shall be considered for inclusion in the watershed analysis.

     *(3) For each identified area of resource sensitivity, the field managers team shall, in consultation with the level 1 and level 2 teams, if any, select and recommend to the department prescriptions. These prescriptions shall be reasonably designed to minimize, or to prevent or avoid, as set forth in table 1 in WAC 222-22-050 (2)(c)(iv), the likelihood of adverse change and deliverability that has the potential to cause a material, adverse effect to resource characteristics in accordance with the following:

     (a) The prescriptions shall be designed to provide forest land owners and operators with as much flexibility as is reasonably possible while addressing the area of resource sensitivity. The prescriptions should, where appropriate, include, but not be limited to, plans for road abandonment, orphaned roads, and road maintenance and plans for applying prescriptions to recognized land features identified in the WAU as areas of resource sensitivity but not fully mapped;

     (b) Restoration opportunities may be included as voluntary prescriptions where appropriate;

     (c) Each set of prescriptions shall provide for an option for an alternate plan under WAC 222-12-040, which the applicant shows meets or exceeds the protection provided by the other prescriptions approved for a given area of resource sensitivity;

     (d) The rules of forest practices and cumulative effects under this chapter shall not require mitigation for activities or events not regulated under chapter 76.09 RCW. Any hazardous condition subject to forest practices identified in a watershed analysis requiring corrective action shall be referred to the department for consideration under RCW 76.09.300 et seq.; and

     (e) The forests and fish riparian permanent rules, when effective, supersede all existing watershed analysis riparian prescriptions with the exception of riparian management zones for exempt 20-acre parcels, when watershed analysis prescriptions were in effect before January 1, 1999. (See WAC 222-30-021, 222-30-022, and 222-30-023.) No new riparian prescriptions will be written after completion of the riparian management zone assessment report during a watershed analysis.

     *(4) For each identified cultural resource area of resource sensitivity, the field managers team shall develop cultural resources management strategies in consultation with the assessment team and affected tribe(s).

     (a) If a management strategy involves a site registered on the department of archaeology and historic preservation's archaeological and historic sites data base, data recovery at an archaeological site, or any resource that requires mandatory protection under chapters 27.44 and 27.53 RCW, the field managers team shall submit the management strategy to the department of archaeology and historic preservation for agreement.

     (b) The management strategies should be reasonably designed to protect or allow the recovery of resources by measures that minimize or prevent or avoid risks identified in the assessment.

     (c) Management strategies resulting from conducting a cultural resources module are voluntary, not mandatory prescriptions, whether the module is conducted as part of a watershed analysis or as a stand-alone method separate from watershed analysis. However, the mandatory protections of resources under chapters 27.44 and 27.53 RCW still apply.

     (5) The field managers team shall submit the recommended prescriptions, monitoring recommendations and cultural resources management strategies to the department within 30 days of the submission to the department of the level 2 assessment under WAC 222-22-060 or within 21 days of the submission to the department of the level 1 assessment under WAC 222-22-050.



[Statutory Authority: RCW 76.09.040. 05-12-119, § 222-22-070, filed 5/31/05, effective 7/1/05. Statutory Authority: Chapter 34.05 RCW, RCW 76.09.040, [76.09.]050,[76.09.]370 , 76.13.120(9). 01-12-042, § 222-22-070, filed 5/30/01, effective 7/1/01. Statutory Authority: RCW 76.09.040, 76.09.170 and chapter 34.05 RCW. 94-01-134, § 222-22-070, filed 12/20/93, effective 1/1/94. Statutory Authority: RCW 76.09.040, 76.09.050 and chapter 34.05 RCW. 92-15-011, § 222-22-070, filed 7/2/92, effective 8/2/92.]