County of Skamania v. State

This is an appeal from a declaratory judgment holding unconstitutional the Forest Products Industry Recovery Act of 1982. The main issue is whether the Act, by modifying contracts for the sale of timber from trust lands, violated the State's fiduciary duties to the trust beneficiaries. The trial court held that it did; we affirm.

I

A. Facts

This case concerns the sale of timber from state lands. Of the 18 million acres of commercial timberland in Washington, approximately 10 percent is held by the State of Washington in trust for various beneficiaries. The bulk of this land was granted to the…