After a year long process that started with my Forest Stewardship Class, my Open Space Timber Land classification for 11 of my 15 acres was officially recorded with the county today! There were many details along the way, but here were the highlights of the process:

• Completion of 2 month Forest Stewardship Program class
• Research, writing, and completion of Forest Stewardship Plan
• Onsite visit from DNR, edits to plan, and DNR approval of plan
• Application to Island County to have 11 of my 15 acres converted into the Open Space Timber Land classification system
• Review and report by the Island County Planning Department
• Review and approval by the Island County Commissioners
• Recording of plan on title, with its associated rights and restrictions
• Updated land tax value assessment from Island County Assessor’s Office, separating out the timber land from the residential land with different tax assessed values
• My land tax assessment will reduce by about 75% total (across all 15 acres) starting with next year’s tax assessments; the tax value of the timber land was completely changed to a very significantly lowered value due to it being removed from residential/development potential while it is in this tax classification and also to encourage the continuation of land use for forestry purposes