In the September 2022 issue of WIP, we wrote about the 25 acres of legacy forest adjoining the the Cooper Crest green space on Olympia’s Westside that were clearcut despite considerable community opposition. The land, previously slated for development, was sold to Silvimantle LLC, investors who anxious to take advantage of a strong log market, hastily obtained a permit from DNR which falsely omitted the presence of a stream on the property that was included on DNR’s own maps that would have made logging infeasible. Current forestry laws precluded any actions by the City to stop the logging. And so, by the first week of July, the Cooper Crest forest was clearcut.
Silvimantle LLC did pretty well on their investment. For an investment of about $250K, they received a return of $875K for the timber and an additional $225K for selling the property to OlyEcosystems, which has been doing the difficult work of restoration since.
But during the logging, Silvimantle overstepped their boundaries and cut 1.29 acres of forest that belonged to the City through an error of the surveyor. The City sued asking for treble damages which they estimated at $217,130. And the City won its case before Judge Thomas McPhee in arbitration.
Silvimantle disputed the costs of the timber and restoration needed, and in the end, the City accepted a settlement of $108,500. City Attorney Michael Young did not answer this reporter’s calls to determine if that money will go towards restoration of Cooper Crest.
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