Closing in on open space
County reworks tax breaks for landowners
Clallam County’s Open Space Program is facing major revisions that could limit eligibility, tighten compliance, and shift tax burdens.
Another slice of Clallam County is set to slip off the tax rolls. A modest third of an acre at 65 Nello Place, located near the crab-shaped sand trap at the Jamestown Tribe’s golf course, will soon join the hundreds of acres already converted to trust land which is exempt from county property taxes.
Purchased by the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe just two and a half years ago for $135,000, the property’s transition to trust status will save the Jamestown Corporation $1,023.43 each year. However, this saving does not eliminate the need for funds—it instead places the burden on the remaining taxpayers, who must continue to finance schools, libraries, emergency services, roads, veterans’ programs, and land trusts. In a region already grappling with a housing affordability crisis, further reductions in the tax base will worsen the problem.
Who pays the taxes?
As Clallam County wrestles with a shrinking tax base, officials are reevaluating who is paying how much. This debate comes after the Board of Commissioners slashed staff in the Auditor’s Office, one of the few departments that collects revenue rather than spends it.
Meanwhile, Clallam County’s Open Space Program—which gives private landowners tax breaks to conserve farmland, timberland, and wildlife habitat—has come under review. While it benefits the environment and prevents overdevelopment, it also reduces the county’s taxable land base.
Changes to the Open Space Program
Recently, landowners enrolled in the Open Space Program received a letter from the county notifying them of an upcoming public hearing and potential rule changes. The letter was light on details, but CC Watchdog reached out to the Clallam County Hearing Examiner for clarification:
Back taxes will not be due if the property is removed from the program because of the changes to the code.
Anyone enrolling in the program may provide public access in order to qualify for a reduction. Public access to private property is just an option someone could take to enroll, but it is not required.
New properties enrolling in the Open Space program do pay a fee to apply. If the property is already enrolled, they will not be charged an application fee again.
The reduction in taxes from enrolled properties is redistributed to the public, so no additional funding is created or lost by the open space program.
Among the proposed changes:
Minimum Parcel Size – Properties under 4 acres are now ineligible unless they meet specific criteria (e.g., conservation easements or public access).
Home Site Exclusion – A mandatory 1-acre exclusion for residences could reduce tax benefits for some property owners.
Stricter Compliance – Periodic inspections and audits are required, with potential tax penalties for non-compliance.
Public Benefit Rating System – A new scoring system determines tax reductions based on conservation value.
What’s next?
A public hearing on the proposed changes will be held on Wednesday, March 19th, at 6:00 PM at the Clallam County Courthouse, Room 160. Once the hearing concludes, the Planning Commission will forward its recommendations to the Board of Commissioners for further action.
For more details, you can review the draft proposal here.
I cannot begin to understand the legal nuances of The Jamestown Trust, but I do understand when they take land off the tax roles my/our taxes go up. The tribe now has the money to buy the best legal advice available and they are. I encourage all area residents to seek and find representatives that represent non-tribal interests. The tribe is not only buying the best legal council; they are buying your / our political representatives. Get smart and vote for representatives that represent you.
I applaud your wish to get this meeting out to the public. There are event sites around the peninsula on Facebook that would be a good place to post this announcement.
For what it's worth I am a tree planter, tree farm owner and manager. My family owns a 50-acre tree farm in Clallam County most of which was bought in the 1960s. We built a one-car sized garage there to give us a place to get out of the weather when we work on the trees. It has no running water or electricity so in that sense it is an out building. When we built this building one acre was taken off the timber tax rolls even though we planted trees within 20 feet on all side of the building. That one acre is listed separately from the rest of the tree farm parcels. On these 50 acres we pay about $230 a year in county taxes, including the one acre with the building.
Because our land is a certified tree farm we are inspected every 5 years to confirm that we are managing the land for timber. We just completed a 12 acre harvest of trees we planted 40 years ago and we made ZERO profit. These trees were part of a 25 acre project that we worked on for over 40 years to reforest a pasture. If you have ever planted in pasture grass you know how difficult such a job would be. But we succeeded in reforesting that pasture which created a valuable wildlife corridor connecting adjacent state and national forest lands. The trees were deformed when young by an unusual snow which caused a twist in about 50% of the logs just below the necessary length to be mill grade. But we provided a full-time job for two loggers for several months and provided timber to local mills. The logs that didn't go to the mill were processed by a local firewood producer so that provided even more jobs. We are happy with that and as we plant this new crop of trees on those open areas we are making changes that we hope will better protect these young trees from heavy snows. The next generations will benefit from these plantings.
As far as profits go in timber it's no cake walk. We worked over a 30 year period on our other 25 acres of 2nd growth forest. These trees were about 50 years old. First we thinned the forest - twice. Then we waited 30 years to harvest the trees. As part of the harvest we not only paid the loggers, the truckers and WA state taxes, but we also had to pay capital gains tax to the federal government. This stand of trees was top grade with about 16 rings per inch so we got top dollar for the quality. With all this said we walked away with $80,000 - enough to pay off the rest of our house mortgage. These trees were about 80 years old at the time of harvest so essentially they accumulated $1000 a year in profit value over 80 years. I hope these facts help you understand how crazy we tree farmers really are. It's in the blood. We love trees and love to plant and care for trees. We love improving habitat for wildlife and our property is also a draw for our neighbors to take strolls in the woods and commune with nature. So the value of forests goes beyond just simple finances.
We all know that many civilizations perish when they "cut the last tree." It is important that we protect our forest lands for humans, wildlife, water, air, spirit, etc. All this is my long-winded way of saying that it is important that we retain the special tax status for our local forest lands.
Note: I forgot to mention that after the harvest of the 25 acres of older trees we replanted about 9000 trees on that land. Those trees are now about 15 feet tall and I'm getting ready to thin them out by hand with a battery operated chainsaw. It's a good way to stay in shape - haha!