LFDC has long focused on protecting at-risk legacy forests in Western Washington. In the summer of 2025, timber sales in Eastern Washington like Gotchen, Q Coleman and Q Tidyman raised red flags, so we investigated. What we found was even worse than expected. 

Our research and field surveys have already confirmed the presence of old-growth trees nearly 400 years old, along with endangered western gray squirrels struggling to survive in these shrinking fragments of native, mixed-conifer forest that once blanketed the region.

The Department of Natural Resources continues to face scientific, legal, and grassroots opposition to its logging of westside legacy forests. But the same cannot be said for its forest practices out east, where rare forest ecosystems continue to be quietly destroyed under the banner of “forest health” and “fire management.” If we don't take urgent action, Eastern Washington's legacy forests may be gone forever.​

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