Trade your gas-powered car for an electric vehicle—or at least a hybrid. Turn down the thermostat and put on a sweater. Shop local and with sustainability in mind. And move away from animal-sourced food to a more plant-based diet.

Most of us are aware of these steps to help address climate change, but LWVWA Lobby Team member Kate Lunceford wants people to be more aware of another important effort, one particularly pertinent in the Evergreen State.

"There is a growing understanding of the value of forests and their immense impact on greenhouse gas sequestration and storage," said Lunceford, the LWVWA Issue Chair for Forests. "But it's not been a significant part of the conversation."

Forests—especially mature (also known as legacy) and old-growth-forests—are a vitally rich and important tool in the critical work to address climate change. Washington is fortunate in having forests from southwest Washington to the Candidate border, and from the Olympic Peninsula to the Cascades and beyond.

"There is no natural resource better at limiting carbon emissions than forests," according to the 2023 "Protection of Mature Forests on Public Lands in Washington State" resolution that members approved at the LWVWA Convention in Pasco.

All forests help to address climate change, but, as Lunceford explained, "not all forests are created equal." The mature and old-growth forests pack the biggest punch.

Scientists have learned that preserving carbon-dense, structurally complex mature forests—with their ability to pull vast amounts of carbon from the atmosphere—offer one of the "most straight-forward, cost-effective ways to protect existing carbon stores," Lunceford explained. 

"Even just the small amount of legacy forest land we have is doing more more to help with mitigation, just standing there," she said. "We don't have to do anything, but just let them stand"

And while replacement forests are helpful, Lunceford said, they don't start sequestering carbon for 10 or 20 years. "Meanwhile, the mature and old-growth forests keep collecting and storing carbon for decades or centuries."

Mature and old-growth forests also clean the air, protect watersheds, keep streams cool, provide habitat for wildlife and small organisms and even have a direct impact on the survival of Southern Orca whales, she said.

The 2023 resolution is Lunceford's playbook as Issue Chair. It calls on state officials to ensure the protection and conservation of all remaining mature and old-growth forests on public lands in the state.

Specifically, it seeks the permanent conservation of approximately 77,000 acres of unique older forests on public lands, which is less than 5 percent of the forest lands managed by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

That's critical because the DNR plans to harvest 6,500 acres of mature forests in the near future, according to the resolution.

The resolution also sounds an urgent call to educate policy makers and the public about the benefits of mature forests, the harm in logging them, and the alternatives that are available.

None of this is to say the League position opposes logging. "It's a balancing act. It's complex. It's about balancing the needs of people and our resources," said Lunceford.

"Rural communities are home to people who have been part of the timber industry for 150 years. The decisions we make need to take into account how they live and how they want to live their lives."

Lunceford's passion for forest protection stems from her younger years. She fondly recalls camping and hiking trips with her parents and two older brothers. She was 10 years old when she got her own Social Security card and membership in the Sierra Club.

In time, she graduated to the Mountaineers, an esteemed mountaineering club, where she learned to navigate off trail, deal with snow and avalance risk, and become what she called a "monster" hiker. She backpacked in the Cascades, the Sierra Nevada's Dusy Basin and Emigrant Wilderness, to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, and through Italy's Dolomites.

Lunceford joined the League in 2013, drawn by the organization's credibility, its mission of voter services, and its commitment to addressing climate change.

Previously an advocate on the Lobby Team, Lunceford stepped up last year to the position of Forests Issue Chair, which empowers her to speak publicly and lobby on issues about which the League has taken positions.