Lands Commissioner Dave Upthegrove: A Timeout for our Trees
Monday, February 24, 2025
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| Image courtesy Dept of Natural Resources |
By State Lands Commissioner Dave Upthegrove
Last month, in my first act as Commissioner, I paused the sale of certain structurally complex, mature forestland managed by the Department of Natural Resources.
The pause is in response to our state’s need to better protect older, mature forests while finding ways to more sustainably harvest our working forests and support our wood products industry.
This pause – which should last around six months – will enable DNR to do two essential things:
First, we will deploy cutting-edge technology to identify and map the characteristics of the forests we manage to more effectively meet DNR’s Policy for Sustainable Forests, which sets a goal to conserve 10 to 15 percent of structurally complex, mature forests.
Second, this pause will allow us time to seek collective input from our trust beneficiaries, alongside Tribal governments, environmental groups, the industry, and the public to help us create new criteria for strengthening and maximizing the benefits of Washington’s working forests.
This process – which will be open, transparent, and inclusive– will allow us to dial back the tension and acrimony around these timber sales and enable us to achieve our shared goal: the long-term sustainability of Washington’s forests.
If you’re interested in learning more about the pause and its impact, you can read more about it here.
This pause – which should last around six months – will enable DNR to do two essential things:
First, we will deploy cutting-edge technology to identify and map the characteristics of the forests we manage to more effectively meet DNR’s Policy for Sustainable Forests, which sets a goal to conserve 10 to 15 percent of structurally complex, mature forests.
Second, this pause will allow us time to seek collective input from our trust beneficiaries, alongside Tribal governments, environmental groups, the industry, and the public to help us create new criteria for strengthening and maximizing the benefits of Washington’s working forests.
This process – which will be open, transparent, and inclusive– will allow us to dial back the tension and acrimony around these timber sales and enable us to achieve our shared goal: the long-term sustainability of Washington’s forests.
If you’re interested in learning more about the pause and its impact, you can read more about it here.
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1 comments:
This language works well for Shoreline as well: The process should open, transparent and inclusive to dial back the tension and acrimony around the removal of both public and private trees from our canopy to achieve the long term sustainability of the trees that have attracted so many to live here. These trees not only make life in Shoreline more pleasant, they are becoming ever more important as climate change mitigators.
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