Officials in timber-dependent counties around Southwest Washington say the state Forest Practices Board’s new rule expanding no-logging zones around some streams amounts to an economic siege.

“We’re under attack in the rural communities,” said Dan Cothren, a longtime Wahkiakum County commissioner. “We always get the short end of the stick.”

Commissioners in Cowlitz, Skamania and Pacific counties echoed that frustration with big-city policymakers.

“They just want us to be able to make their beds and flip their burgers when they come down to look at how beautiful everything is,” said Lisa Olsen, a Pacific County commissioner.

The rule will result in a decrease of $2.8 billion in harvestable timber value on private lands around the state, according to a May report from the University of

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