At a Senate hearing March 22, the sides traded the positions they took on House Bill 1789 when it was proposed last month by Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz.

Once seen by sawmills as a threat to the timber supply, the amended bill passed by the House directs DNR to keep logging state lands while earning new money by selling carbon credits for cultivating timber.

In the past decade, 138,000 acres of state forests have burned and only 20% have been replanted, Franz told the Senate Environment and Energy Committee.

By selling carbon credits, DNR could reforest the land and raise new revenue, she said. Rural schools and counties would get money as the trees grow and when they are logged, she said.

The cycle would start over, she said. “Every time we cut a tree, three tress are planted.”

Several wood-products industry representatives who opposed the bill last month endorsed it March 22.

Carbon credits would supplement the benefits of timber harvests, said Doug Cooper, vice president of resources for Hampton Lumber, which has three sawmills in Washington.

The bill also has won the support of the Washington State Association of Counties. The association previously was concerned rural counties would see a loss in timber revenue.

Environmental groups complained the bill prohibits DNR from generating carbon credits by delaying timber harvests or leaving more trees standing.

The House-passed version “really does a disservice to the original intent of the bill,” Sierra Club organizer Mariska Kecskes said.

The Senate committee has until March 29 to pass out the bill. The prime sponsor, Rep. Kristine Reeves, D-Federal Way, cautioned senators to not upset the bill’s bipartisan support.

“It has been a very well worked bill on our side of the chamber,” she said.