Here we go! 2025 is breath-taking in so many ways. We have dangers and we have opportunities.
In the state: The new Commissioner of Public Lands, Dave Upthegrove, took office in the Department of Natural Resources and quickly introduced a six-month pause in the sale of legacy forests in Washington. DNR will likely use this time to assess and inventory forests in Washington so that younger forests can be used for harvest that will create revenue for the junior taxing districts and jobs for rural communities.
Check out the LWVWA webinar about how
two Leagues have influenced county councils/commissions. Our League will be advocating along with our partners for more reasonable forest management on state lands for healthier ecosystems, stronger communities, and a more resilient planet.
Stilly Revisited: We will hold the Board of Natural Resources to the letter of the
Policy for Sustainable Forests to protect mature forests until 10 to 15% of them have been conserved before logging them. A dozen mature forests were approved before Upthegrove took office, forcing advocates to turn to the courts to protect them. Legacy Forest Defense Coalition and North Cascades Conservation Council will file a brief by Friday, February 28, 2025 to stop the logging of the Stilly Revisited Timber Sale in Snohomish County. The merits get a hearing in court Friday, March 14, 2025, at Snohomish County Superior Court. You are invited to help defend Stilly Revisited with a
contribution.
Nomination to the Natural Climate Solutions funding: The attempt to repeal the Climate Commitment Act was soundly defeated, and we still have big polluters, so revenue will still flow to the Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) account. The county can still receive revenue on formerly scheduled sales. We will ask our Snohomish County Council to send a nomination to DNR to permanently protect a legacy forest near Darrington called Next Regeneration through the NCS program. The funding will be used to buy other forest land to harvest for revenue. See photos of this important forest
here.
The big forest plan for our county: Kyle Krakow of Legacy Forest Defense Coalition is nearly done mapping the forests in Snohomish County to be part of a broad forest management plan on state lands for our county. League member Clara Hsu is working on grants. The plan will identify carbon-dense, structurally complex legacy forests that should not be cut. It will identify legacy forests that could be part of more continuous habitat. As they mature in complexity, they could be selectively thinned and planted to improve them while supplying needed timber for revenue. It will identify younger plantation forests 40- to 60-year-old trees that are ready for harvest now. This plan is based on a plan the Thurston County Commission is working to implement with DNR. You can see their
plan here.
Junior Taxing Districts: We will continue with listening sessions among junior taxing districts in our county – schools, fire departments, hospitals, and libraries. These interviews are intended to learn how district leaders think about state revenue from timber sales.
Please join our mature forest advocacy at 10:00 A.M. on the second Tuesday of the month, beginning Feb. 11th, 2025 at this
Zoom link.