| Environment The League of Women Votes of Washington supports natural resource management that promotes an environment beneficial to life through the protection and wise management of natural resources in the public interest. Specific Forest positions can be seen in in Program in Action on page 38. The League promotes resource conservation, stewardship, and long-range planning, with the responsibility for managing natural resources shared by all levels of government. The goal is to preserve the physical, chemical, and biological integrity of the ecosystem with maximum protection of public health and the environment. Issue Team Chair: Kate Lunceford, Forests Issue Chair |
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Legislation |
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Overview of the 2025 Legislative Session Healthy forests and watersheds are essential to healthy, prosperous communities and abundant wildlife. The League supports measures that protect and restore mature and old-growth forests, reform the adaptive management program and enhance community resilience to wildfire. The Department of Natural Resources and the Legislature are empowered to manage our forest resources for the benefit of all. There are myriad ways that public forest lands can be managed to support biodiversity, climate resilience, wood products industry and recreation in our state. With adequate funding, we can preserve mature forests through Trust Land Transfers, Natural Climate Solutions funding, and carbon parks. Reasonable forest management will help restore forests while producing timber and good jobs. Overview of the 2024 Legislative Session There is more funding to preserve mature forests and purchase replacement lands for economically impacted rural counties. Last year the State Legislature voted to permanently protect 2,000 acres of mature forests with funds from the Climate Commitment Act (CCA). However, the demand from counties to protect their threatened mature forests far exceeded this original investment. In February, the Legislature received over 6,500 emails requesting investment in mature forest conservation. The legislature listened to this call and allocated $15 million. This investment will put hundreds of acres of structurally complex mature forests into permanent conservation across the state. This kind of investment is a win/win solution for public lands and communities alike. Washington’s older state forests are among the most carbon-dense in the world, making them invaluable tools for fighting climate change. They are not only in their prime for carbon storage and sequestration, but they also provide essential ecosystem services that make us more resilient to the growing impacts of climate change. This funding is essential for conserving our best carbon sequestering forests that are at risk of being lost, while also purchasing replacement lands to add to the overall public lands base. The bad news is the Dept. of Natural Resources put in a condition that no forests with Forest Practices Applications filed before March are eligible. So, many important mature forests are still on the schedule to be logged. The LWVWA will continue education and advocacy to seek cancellation of the sales. The Trust Land Transfer Program received $10.8 million conserving 9 projects with over 2,200 acres of state trust land. This appropriation builds on the success we had last year revitalizing the Trust Land Transfer program within the Dept. of Natural Resources. Trust land transfer projects are special state trust lands that are under-performing economically and contain ecologically valuable features. Communities and Tribes all over the state are excited by the prospect of an opportunity to have a real say in the future of public lands. Trust land transfer is a win-win-win, for conservation, trust beneficiaries, rural communities, and even working forests. The Legislature also approved $5.78M requested by the Recreation and Conservation Office for the Community Forest Program. The LWVWA signed on to a letter asking for funding for the two projects on Whidbey Island and in Hoquiam.
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2024 Forests Legislation
Bills in green are supported. Bills in red are opposed by the League. Bills in black the League is watching.
SB 5157 Concerning the direct sale of valuable materials for habitat restoration projects. This bill allows direct sales of valuable materials like large trees with root wads from public lands up to $250,000 in appraised value may be sold to entities using those materials for habitat restoration projects under certain conditions. This will avoid the time needed for public auction to acquire large woody material on public land. This is a more cost-effective approach to restoration. It makes wood near project sites available reducing transportation costs and making longer trees available.
To qualify for the direct sale, DNR must determine the direct sale is in the best interest of the state or the affected trust, and the project proponent must have all appropriate permits and approvals required for the habitat restoration project. The source will likely be from road construction or blow-down. In addition, the project proponent must submit a report as defined by DNR describing how the materials will be used in the habitat restoration project. The valuable materials may not be resold or remanufactured for other uses by the project proponent. Any resale or remanufacture of timber is a violation subject to treble damages. If a purchaser plans to stockpile valuable materials for future use by project proponents, DNR may sell valuable materials to the purchaser subject to rules established by DNR to ensure the materials are used exclusively for eligible habitat restoration projects. There is no new work so there will be no fiscal note.
HB 1153 Concerning urban forest management ordinances. This bill would provide guidance to local governments wishing to create tree bank programs as an additional tool for promoting urban and community forestry while also allowing for the development of needed housing. Tree banks would allow the removal of trees in one area being developed to be offset by the addition of trees to one or more areas in which the need for trees is more acute. It says using tree banks can facilitate adding trees in areas that have historically suffered from environmental inequality and health disparities, areas subject to the urban heat island effect, and areas in which the trees will most benefit salmon and orca recovery efforts. Sponsors: Duerr, Ramel, Parshley, Berg, Ormsby, and Hill.
- If you are interested in a particular bill, use the links above to go to the webpage for that bill. These pages include staff summaries and reports including who testified PRO versus CON on the bill. There is also information about how to access videos of hearings that have been held.
- If your available time permits you to do nothing else, please scan the LWVWA Legislative Action Newsletter each week (it's distributed each Sunday during the legislative session) and respond to the Action Alerts.
- If you have more time and are interested in a particular topic, we always appreciate and can use your assessments of bills, law implementation, and future concerns. For Forests topics send assessments of a few paragraphs to a few pages and include the sources of the facts you rely on. Send them to Kate Lunceford, Forests Issue Chair.
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If you want to engage more in a current topic, such as Dept. of Natural Resources sustainable harvest calculation or other forest issues, one of our coalition partners probably has a focused action project underway that you can join. Contact me to discuss opportunities.