Preserving Mature Forests - League of Women Voters of Snohomish County

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Preserving Mature Forests

OUR COMMITMENT
The LWVUS Joined the Call to Protect Old Growth Forests and LWVWA approved a Resolution to Protect Mature Forests at its 2023 State Convention in Pasco, WA. LWVSC is committed to protecting all carbon-dense, structurally complex mature forests on public lands in Snohomish County. There were about 6,000 acres in the lowlands vulnerable to timber harvest. They are being auctioned and logged at an alarming rate.

Join us, as we work toward this goal by clicking the button above, and add your voice to the fight to preserve mature forests.

It takes many voices ( people power) to demonstrate to the county council that we care about protecting our mature forests!

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IMMEDIATE OBJECTIVE

Protect all mature forests in Snohomish County

Support our county government in protecting mature forests in Snohomish County. We want to help it find pathways to both protect forests and replace revenues going to rural communities or junior taxing districts or find replacement lands. We need the County as an ally. We are meeting with Council Members to ask that they request the forests’ protection by the Board of Natural Resources (BNR).

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LONGER-TERM OBJECTIVE

Work toward state-wide protection for Mature Forests

Urge our County Council to join other jurisdictions like the Port of Allyn Commissioners, Thurston County Commissioners, Jefferson County Commissioners, and Whatcom County Commissioners in asking the Washington Dept. of Natural Resources (DNR) to preserve all mature forests in Washington State. The 2.4 million acres of forest land managed by DNR contain less than 77,000 acres of carbon-dense structurally complex mature forests. The mature forests are carbon workhorses that, if cut, will release 31 million metric tons of CO2. This takes us in the wrong direction toward our state’s sequestration goals. The complex ecosystem both known and unknown, will be lost for a century.

RECENT COURT CASES
Court cases in 2022 and 2024 confirm that the Dept. of Natural Resources “…does not have unbridled discretion to ignore its climate related duties under SEPA for timber sales.” In 2024, the court required that the “DNR cannot circumvent an examination of the impacts of logging on a specific parcel of land by relying on carbon sequestration benefits from other lands that it manages.” Judge Ballinger said, “by failing to consider the impacts of deforestation and forest degradation on climate, DNR’s determination that the Wishbone Timber Sale would have no significant environmental impacts was ‘clearly erroneous.’ The courts have cleared the way for DNR to create carbon parks in state forests. Sales of carbon credits can replace revenue from logging for the benefit of all.

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ALTERNATIVES TO LOGGING MATURE FORESTS

Purchase replacement lands to maintain timber revenue
Use Natural Climate Solutions funding through the Climate Commitment Act. The Legislature funded $83M for the protection of 2,000 acres in 2023 and $13M for more in
Use the Trust Lands Transfer Revitalization Program
This takes mature forests out of DNR’s timber portfolio for preservation, while using the funds to purchase productive new timber lands.
Use Carbon Parks option
Reconvey mature forests on county lands back to the county and designate these Mature forests as “carbon parks.” The resulting carbon credits could be sold to benefit the community.
New forms of economic development
Foster new forms of economic development in rural communities and engage existing and new local, skilled workers in sustainable forest harvesting and proforestation.

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SNOHOMISH COUNTY - LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

We asked our Council in 2023 to protect two parcels scheduled for logging soon. These proposed areas would not affect any local taxing district revenue and are contiguous with other preserved areas.
LWVSC co-wrote an op/ed in the Daily Herald urging protection of three imminent timber cuts in our county. One sale called Stilly Revisited contains forests on steep slopes above the Stillaguamish River. Stilly Revisited and Ridge Ender were scheduled for timber auction April 2024, but DNR had just put the auction of these on hold due to activists pressure and potential lawsuits
We still need to engage the Snohomish County Council members in the process of protecting these and other parcels on the auction list.

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WASHINGTON STATE - LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

6500 forest supporters sent emails from around the state in 2023 and 2024 to prompt WA legislators to approve a state budget that includes $15M into the Climate Commitment Act (CCA) for forest conservation. This would place several hundred acres of structurally complex mature forests into permanent conservation.
Should voters repeal the CCA in November, 2024, then this protection will not happen. We need to continue active support of this budget action.

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Protect all mature forests in Snohomish County

Work toward state-wide protection for Mature Forests