(1) Application. A landowner may submit an alternate plan that departs from the specific provisions of chapters 222-22 through 222-38 WAC for any or all of the activities described in the application. Alternate plans must be submitted with a three-year, multiyear, or small forest landowner long-term application. Alternate plans may support a single forest practices application or multiple applications if the sites included in the plan have sufficient common physical characteristics and elements to justify being considered together. See board manual section 21.

(2) Plan preparation. The landowner is responsible for preparing and submitting an alternate plan. Small forest landowners may wish to seek the assistance of the small forest landowner office. See WAC 222-12-0402.

(3) Contents of alternate plans. Alternate plans must contain all of the following:

(a) A map of the area covered, at a scale acceptable to the department showing the location of any affected streams and other waters, wetlands, unstable slopes, and existing roads. The map must also show the location of proposed road construction, timber harvest, and other forest practices;

(b) A description of how the alternate plan provides public resource protection to meet the approval standard, including a description of the proposed alternate management strategy, prescriptions, and where applicable, aquatic resource enhancements;

(c) A list of the forest practices rules that the alternate management plan is intended to replace;

(d) Where applicable, descriptions of monitoring and adaptive management strategies, including landowner plans for annual performance reviews;

(e) Where applicable, descriptions of an implementation schedule; and

(f) When multiple forest practices applications are submitted with the same alternate plan or when an alternate plan has been used for previous applications, justification that the sites included in the plan share sufficient common physical characteristics and elements to be considered together.

(4) Review of proposed plan. Upon receipt of a forest practices application together with an alternate plan, the department will do all of the following:

(a) Appoint an interdisciplinary team;

(b) Establish a deadline for completion of the interdisciplinary team review that is consistent with the requirements of subsection (5) of this rule; and

(c) Within five business days of receipt of an application with an alternate plan, provide copies of the application and alternate plan to the departments of ecology and fish and wildlife, affected Indian tribes, the National Marine Fisheries Service, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and other parties that have expressed an interest in alternate plans in the area of the application. If the landowner is a small forest landowner, copies should also be provided to the small forest landowner office.

(5) Interdisciplinary team.

(a) The department will determine the members invited to participate on an interdisciplinary team. Teams will include members with the qualifications necessary to evaluate the alternate plan. A representative of any affected Indian tribe, and departments of ecology and fish and wildlife will be invited to participate. Each team will include a representative of the landowner and a professional forester employed by the department and shall be led by a department employee.

(b) The interdisciplinary team will conduct a site visit and submit a recommendation to the department at least three days prior to the expiration of the application time limit in WAC 222-20-020. The interdisciplinary team may submit a recommendation without a site visit if a small forest landowner submitted the alternate plan using a template contained in board manual section 21 and is a low impact alternate plan and the team determines a visit is not necessary to evaluate the site specific application of a template or a low impact alternate plan.

(c) The recommendation of the interdisciplinary team shall indicate whether the alternate plan meets the approval standard, or what revisions are necessary to meet the approval standard. The team is intended to work with the landowner in an attempt to reach consensus on the efficacy of the alternate plan. In the absence of consensus, the team will forward reports reflecting the majority and minority opinions, or the landowner may elect to withdraw or revise the proposal.

(6) Approval standard. An alternate plan must provide protection for public resources at least equal in overall effectiveness to the protection provided in the act and rules.

(7) Approval, conditions, or disapproval. Upon receipt of the interdisciplinary team's recommendation, the department shall determine whether to approve, disapprove, or condition the application based on the approval standard. The department shall give substantial weight to the recommendations of the interdisciplinary team in cases where a consensus recommendation is forwarded. If the department disapproves or conditions a forest practices application with an alternate plan, the department will provide a written statement to the landowner explaining why the application was conditioned or denied.