New Washington Public Lands chief defends pause on logging ‘almost old-growth forests’

Can Washington state hold off harvesting older forests in the face of a projected $12 billion budget deficit without impacting local governments and school districts that get money from those timber sales?

That’s the big question facing Dave Upthegrove, Washington’s new Public Lands commissioner.

As one of his first acts on the job, Upthegrove did what he promised to do on the campaign trail — pause the harvest of timber from 70,000 to 80,000 acres of older forests that don’t yet qualify as “old-growth” but still are old enough to provide valuable habitat.

Upthegrove said the six-month pause is worth it to ensure “these structurally complex, mature, older forests” are protected.

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“My interest is in making sure that we're managing our state-owned timber lands in ways that ensure that they are economically sustainable for generations to come,” he said in an interview with Soundside’s Libby Denkmann. “Being economically sustainable requires us to be environmentally sustainable in order to have this resource.”

The Department of Natural Resources manages more than 2.4 million acres of forest for timber production, wildlife habitat, water resource protection, and public recreation, according to the department’s website. Revenue from timber sales benefits public schools, universities, state facilities, and local services in many Washington counties.

During the 2024 campaign for the commissioner job, an environmental group threatened to sue over the sale of timber from older forests, according to reporting by the Washington State Standard. Upthegrove’s Republican opponent, Jaime Herrera Beutler, said she would not bow to political pressures from environmental groups to limit logging.

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Meanwhile, school districts and local governments worried about their budgets taking a hit if those sales are deferred.

In his interview with KUOW, Upthegrove said the pause on logging older forests, which he referred to as “almost old-growth,” would be offset by increasing harvests in younger forests. He also said the fact that timber values have gone up should dampen the blow.

He admitted that counties and school districts could face short-term impacts from sales on the books that are now being deferred. But he said the impact of that pause is being overblown in the press.

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He pointed out that 70% of forestry in Washington state takes part on private timberlands. Mature forests make up only 3% of the remaining 30% of timberlands that are state-owned.

“This isn't something that's going to have devastating impacts on industry [or] that's going to be earth shaking to our state's economy,” Upthegrove said. “It's going to provide some better habitat benefit in ways that are thoughtful.”