Efforts to improve the management of Washington forests and reduce the risk of wildfire received another boost today with the signing of Sen. Brad Hawkins’ bill to support “good neighbor” agreements between state and federal agencies.
The new law, created by Senate Bill 6211, gives the state Department of Natural Resources immediate authority to handle revenue and authorize spending under the Good Neighbor Authority agreement signed by DNR and the U.S. Forest Service in 2017.
“The Good Neighbor agreement allows the state to conduct forest management work on federal lands, and this new law helps finalize the state budget mechanism to implement that important work,” said Hawkins.
“Most of the laws created this year won’t take effect until June, but with important forest health projects ready to go, we designed this legislation to become law upon the governor’s signature, which helps everything get established sooner,” Hawkins added.