New Commissioner of Public Lands Dave Upthegrove formalized a major policy shift immediately upon taking over the Washington State Department of Natural Resources. Upthegrove announced a pause on timber sales involving certain older state forests that are structurally complex.
The debate over what are sometimes referred to as Legacy Forests was a big campaign issue in 2024.. Even the term can be controversial. It is sometimes used in reference to stands of naturally regenerated trees that are 70 to 120 years old, in areas that haven’t been logged since World War II.
Some environmental groups are hailing the decision.
“Commissioner Upthegrove is taking immediate action to resolve a persistent, intractable issue,” said Rachel Baker, forest director of Washington Conservation Action, in a statement. “This allows DNR to strike the right balance between public values and timber harvest, and between meeting commitments to agency policy and climate change, and commitments to communities.”
Other stakeholders, including some in the timber industry, had different reactions to the policy shift.
Nick Smith from the American Forest Resource Council issued a statement saying:
“We look forward to working with Commissioner Upthegrove on the sustainable management of DNR state trust lands, which provide timber, recreation, clean air and water, and healthy wildlife habitat. We are, indeed, curious about his six-month pause and how that could negatively impact Washington schools, fire districts, libraries, rural hospitals and other beneficiaries that sorely depend on DNR timber revenues. Considering the state is also experiencing a budget shortfall, we would like to know how the pause would disrupt DNR agency operations, since timber revenues also sustain their operations. We will have more to say as we learn more information with Commissioner Upthegrove.”
Commissioner Upthegrove weighed in on the pause during an interview on The Impact.
(Link) “We’re taking a short time out to get a little bit of work done. Number one, we’re going to use the best technology in the world to get a better picture of what forests we have and where, what types of forest across the landscape. And secondly, we’re going to work with counties and environmental groups and the industry and anyone interested on identifying the criteria of the forest that we want to make sure we’re deferring to meet our habitat goals,” said Upthegrove.
(Link) “The important thing I want to note is, I’m not proposing we set aside permanently in preservation certain forests. I’m talking about changing the scheduling of our harvest so that we ensure that across the landscape we have younger forest, medium forest, and older forest because that’s what our habitat plans call for in order to make sure we’re sustaining our environment along with our economy. I envision a strong, healthy, wood products industry, and value the important role this agency plays in supporting our counties and our schools.”