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Case Study: Northwestern Washington

Recent Trends Projected Increases in Housing Density Policies, Planning, and Future Growth

Case Study: Southern Maine

Recent Trends Projected Increases in Housing Density Policies, Planning, and Future Growth

Case Study: Northwestern Georgia

Recent Trends Projected Increases in Housing Density Policies, Planning, and Future Growth

Conclusions Authors Report Individual Case Studies

In Progress

Private Assets, Public Benefits AK, HI, PR, VI, and Pacific Islands Urban Forests on the Edge

Contact Information Forests on the Edge Susan Stein

USDA Forest Service, Cooperative Forestry, Mail Stop Code 1123, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-1123

email: openspace@fs.fed.us
facsimile: (202) 205-1271 Open Space Conservation Claire Harper & Kathryn Conant

USDA Forest Service, Cooperative Forestry, Mail Stop Code 1123, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-1123

email: openspace@fs.fed.us
facsimile: (202) 205-1271

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Recent Trends

Migration of new residents to these counties accounted for most of the population increase. Between 1990 and 2000, the population in the three counties of northwestern Washington increased by 36 percent, surpassing the 21 percent growth experienced statewide. Most of this increase came from people moving into the case study area rather than from natural increase (births over deaths). As the population has increased in the case study watersheds, so has the number of housing units.
Timber harvests and the value of standing timber (stumpage value) have been decreasing in recent years. Between 2000 and 2006, timber harvests on privately owned forests in the three counties declined, mirroring longer term trends statewide; the stumpage value—the amount of money a seller receives per 1,000 board feet—has also declined for the dominant species, Douglas-fir (Washington State Department of Revenue n.d.).
High real estate prices for undeveloped lands. Rising values for lands sold for development are an incentive for some private land owners to sell forested lands. In recent years, sale prices for undeveloped lands in northwestern Washington have been high (Alig and Plantinga 2004, Alig and White 2007). For example, in Snohomish County near the Seattle metropolitan area, the average selling price for undeveloped parcels between 1 and 5 acres in size sold between 2003 and 2005 was $104,800 per acre.