Report on Oso Landslide: Timber company logged one more acre than allowed

SEATTLE (AP) — A state review of logging near the deadly March landslide in Oso has found that a timber company logged one acre more than was allowed under a 2004 permit, but the report was inconclusive on whether logging strayed into a more restrictive area.

The state Department of Natural Resources released its review on Tuesday, nine months after the deadliest landslide in U.S. history killed 43 people and devastated a community about 60 miles northeast of Seattle.

In the aftermath of the disaster, questions were raised about logging in a 7-acre area at the top of the slope nearly a decade earlier.

The state review did not look into the cause of the March 22 landslide. It focused instead on regulatory requirements and decisions to grant applications for logging within a mile of the landslide over the past decade.