The state and King County have agreed to a transfer of control over 1,500 acres of forest between Tiger Mountain and Rattlesnake Ridge.

The state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will manage the land as a working forest that will provide long-term revenue to the county, officials said.

The transfer, which was announced Oct.. 7, is part of an agreement reached in 1995 between DNR, the county and the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust to increase the acreage and productivity of state forestland in the county. The agreement also allows DNR to use highly treated biosolids from the county’s wastewater treatment plants for fertilization and soil-enrichment on some state-managed forestland.

“This land transfer comes at no cost to the state and brings long-term benefits to the people of King County and to the state,” said state Land Commissioner Doug Sutherland. “We support the efforts of King County and the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust as part of our stewardship of healthy upland forests and streams.”

Doug Schindler, deputy director of the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust, said the land in the Raging River area “will stay in forests forever, providing wildlife habitat, recreation opportunities and a sustainable source of wood products that our society needs. This program enriches soils and prevents erosion and provides revenue for King County schools and roads.”

DNR will manage the site as a working forest and provide 75 percent of the revenue to the trust’s beneficiary, King County. A management fee of 25 percent of the revenue will be used to cover DNR’s costs of pruning, thinning, harvesting, and replanting trees on the land and maintaining access roads.

DNR manages more than 5.6 million acres of state-owned forest, range, commercial, agricultural and aquatic lands statewide.