King County works to purchase development rights
King County, Wash., Executive Ron Sims recently announced a deal that would be the largest public purchase of development rights in the Pacific Northwest and one of the biggest such contracts in U.S. history. In the agreement, King County would pay Hancock Timber Resource Group $22 million for development rights on 90,000 acres of the company’s Snoqualmie Forest, more than tripling the amount of open space preserved by the county over the past 35 years. The county would also purchase the full title to the 150 acres of critical chinook-salmon spawning habitat on the Tolt River. Officials say the deal would assure the wall against sprawl will never be broken. guaranteeing that the land will forever remain a working tree farm. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002024839_treefarm03m.html