Washington’s Forest Practices Rules allow landowners to develop alternate plans, which are harvest or management plans that propose alternatives to the Forest Practices Rules. Alternate plans allow landowners to apply for more site-specific management flexibility than standard forest practices rules allow. Use an alternate plan to apply for a management plan that will maintain protection of your property’s specific riparian and other ecological functions. To be approved, an alternate plan must provide protection for public resources at least equal in overall effectiveness to the protection provided by the Forest Practices Act and Rules. By law, an interdisciplinary team representing other governmental agencies and locally affected tribes is assembled to assess each proposed alternate plan and make recommendations to ensure the plan meets the standard for approval.

What are the general categories of alternate plans?

• Fixed-Width RMZ for Type S and F Waters template: Use for smaller, no-harvest buffers than the standard rules allow.  The benefits include easier layout of harvests and other application, and narrower riparian management zone (RMZ) widths.
• Overstocked Stand template: Use to thin dense stands (300 stems/acre or greater) within RMZs. The benefits include the ability to thin to concentrate growth on potentially stagnant trees that might be untouchable otherwise.

How does it work?