The Washington Department of Natural Resources has a new web platform designed to help private forest landowners.  The Landowner Assistance Portal is a collaborative effort between the Forest Resilience and Forest Regulation divisions of DNR.  Many of the most popular programs offered or administered by the agency reside in one or both of those divisions.  DNR’s Natalie Johnson said there are a vast number of programs and resources available to private landowners, but finding them can be difficult.

 

"It's all spread throughout a really enormous website and a really big state agency.  And so, this portal is just intended to make all of those programs more accessible by giving you one place where you can find information on all of them, and organize it by topic so you don't have to know the program you're looking for to start with."

 

Based on an informal survey conducted this spring by DNR, many landowners may know what they’re looking for, but often struggle to find all the necessary information.  Johnson said there are often bureaucratic divisions inside a large state agency that can make it hard to sift through information.

 

"Those internal divisions don't make so much of an impact on landowners," Johnson said. "So, we're trying to break down those walls as far as land owners are concerned, so they can just go to one place and find what they're looking for."

 

Johnson added the tool is meant specifically for the small forest land owner, typically 10-20 acres.  DNR has stated the new Landowner Assistance Portal marks a key milestone for the agency as it continues to expand its Service Forestry program.

 

Click Here to learn more about DNR's Landowner Assistance Portal.

 

If you have a story idea for the PNW Ag Network, call (509) 547-1618, or e-mail glenn.vaagen@townsquaremedia.com 

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