DNR Resumes Plans to Log 29,000 Acres of Legacy Forests in WA
- Legacy Forest Defense Coalition
- Aug 28
- 4 min read
Updated: Sep 24
What DNR describes as the "biggest step forward for forest conservation in a generation” could devastate our state forests.
Update: We have been informed that Commissioner Upthegrove has directed DNR to re-evaluate its selection of the 77,000 acres, in response to concerns raised by our organization. This likely means that the maps posted on the DNR website will be revised. Although we are encouraged by this concession, DNR continues to propose new timber sales that would clearcut some of the oldest and most biologically diverse legacy forests that remain in Western Washington.
Original post:
On Tuesday, August 26th, the Washington State Commissioner of Public Lands and head of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Dave Upthegrove, signed an executive order that purports to “conserve 77,000 acres of structurally complex forests across Western Washington, including every acre of our older forests.”
Upthegrove announced the executive order during a press conference. He spoke about the need to do a better job of managing our state forestlands to conserve biodiversity, mitigate climate change, and provide important habitat for sensitive species, and suggested that the conservation of 77,000 acres of structurally complex forests was an important first step toward meeting those objectives.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
The executive order signed by Upthegrove does the opposite of what it purports to do, by green-lighting 20 of the 23 timber sales that Upthegrove had pulled back in January of this year, and allowing 29,000 acres of some of the oldest and most structurally complex legacy forests to be clearcut over the next five years. In signing the executive order, Upthegrove in effect adopted the five-year plan developed under the previous Commissioner of Public Lands, which aggressively targets our rapidly disappearing legacy forests for commercial logging.
The Willapa River watershed would be particularly hard hit. Old growth forests have all but disappeared from this watershed, and the 1,000 acres of unprotected legacy forests that remain in the headwaters are some of the oldest and most biologically diverse of any on DNR managed lands in Western Washington. Upthegrove's plan would see 93% of these stands logged over the next five years, leaving just 68 acres of legacy forests protected. A misleading map prepared by DNR suggests that the executive order would result in the protection of 778 acres of structurally complex forest in the Willapa River watershed, but 85% of the acres DNR has mapped as conserved are mapping errors, anomalies, or low conservation value fragments.
In 2021, the Center for Responsible Forestry mapped legacy forests across Western Washington, and estimated that approximately 77,000 acres remained unprotected. Since then, improved mapping and modeling techniques have revealed that there are more legacy forests remaining than previously estimated. Although DNR has logged thousands of acres of these forests since 2021, the Legacy Forest Defense Coalition estimates that there are still about 92,000 acres of legacy forests that remain unprotected in Western Washington. Most, but not all, of the legacy forests we have mapped can be classified as structurally complex.
Based on information that LFDC has obtained from DNR, we estimate that the executive order signed by Upthegrove would only conserve between 19,000 to 28,000 acres out of the approximately 92,000 acres of legacy forests that remain unprotected. Even worse, the areas that are conserved under the order are generally small, scattered, and disconnected from other conservation areas, and obviously chosen because they are located in areas that DNR has no plans to harvest.
This does not represent a thoughtful attempt by DNR to better manage our state forest lands to conserve biodiversity, mitigate climate change, and provide important habitat for sensitive species.
Upthegrove described the executive order as a first step in a long process, but the actions that DNR takes over the next five years are critically important and will have an outsized impact on its ability to achieve its long-term management goals. We are working with our partners to convince Commissioner Upthegrove to modify his plan so that it protects the forests that most need to be protected.
Capitol State Forest Proposal
Compare our proposal for Capitol State Forest to what would be protected under Upthegrove’s current executive order.
TAKE ACTION!
Commissioner Upthegrove has an opportunity to make real history by modifying his plan to ensure that the legacy forests remaining on state forest lands in Western Washington are protected. Please urge him and DNR to reevaluate the current map and work with LFDC to protect these irreplaceable forests.
Commissioner of Public Lands Dave Upthegrove: cpl@dnr.wa.gov Board of Natural Resources: bnr@dnr.wa.gov
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