Three forest stands whose timbers have been authorized for sale but had been paused – are now back on the chopping block as the Board of Natural Resources (BNR) will consider re-approving them for auction on November 5.
These forest stands are Juneau, Carrot, and Cabbage Patch, representing 430 acres of forestland.
Money-wise, the three forest stands represent $1.9 million in timber revenue for the county, according to projections by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
The Olympia and Rochester school districts are the most significant beneficiaries, which stand to gain $596,129 and $367,850 from the revenues over several years.
All three stands mentioned above are in the Capitol State Forest and are considered “legacy” forests, especially by certain environmental groups.
Legacy Forest Defense Coalition (LFDC) views legacy forests as closest to old-growth forests. It defines legacy forests as “forests that retain significant biological, structural, and genetic legacies of the natural and old growth forests that once dominated the Pacific Northwest.”
However, the term does not exist in the lexicon of the DNR, which considers these forest stands to be “structurally complex.”
Carrot and Cabbage Patch were first approved for auction in February 2024. Carrot consists of 73 acres and is located 8 miles northeast of Oakville, while Cabbage Patch consists of 197 acres and 12 miles west of Olympia.
The BNR backtracked on its decision to put the Cabbage Patch for sale a month after approval due to pushback from the Thurston Board of County Commissioners (BoCC).
Since then, no timber sale has been proposed for Thurston County. From March to October this year, the BNR has been waiting for BoCC to fulfill a directive it gave to the county in March to devise a plan for Capitol State Forest while ensuring that trust beneficiaries are made whole monetarily.
The plan's deadline was October 1. In their reply to BNR’s directive, given the exact date of the deadline, the BoCC told DNR that they are proposing to defer the harvest from certain parcels in Capitol State Forest until a stakeholder workgroup can develop a long-term plan.
The BoCC wrote that the DNR has enough harvest-ready plantation forest in Capitol State Forest to meet its harvest targets for at least 10 years.
The BNR did not discuss the BoCC’s letter when it convened for its October 1 meeting, but a letter by Commissioner of Public Lands Hillary Franz shows her position on the BoCC’s proposal.
In a letter sent to the BoCC on October 24, a day before the BoCC discussed a draft version of its letter, Franz reiterated that any solution must keep the beneficiaries whole. Franz also disagreed with the county’s plans to develop an alternative harvest schedule, believing that it would still not make the beneficiaries whole.
When DNR instructed the BoCC to develop a plan in March, it threatened that if the county failed to produce a plan by the deadline, they would continue selling Cabbage Patch.
The agenda for the November 5 meeting not only shows Cabbage Patch back for sale, but also Carrot and Juneau.
The Carrot is back on the BNR’s agenda, as it never went to auction despite BNR approving it for sale. Lynn Fitz-Hugh of Restoring Earth Connection, a group supporting the BoCC’s position, told The JOLT that certain “civil disobedience folks” pulled the logging flags off of Carrot, causing a delay in its auctioning.
DNR Communication Manager Ryan Rodruck also explained that Carrot is going back to the BNR because, according to RCW 79.15.060, the BNR must reappraise sales that have not been auctioned within 180 days.
Meanwhile, Juneau consists of 160 acres and is 6 miles west of Littlerock. It was on DNR’s list of proposed timber sales for April 2023, but the BNR decided to remove it from the list in March 2023 due to public outcry.
After one and a half years of postponement, it is now back for the BNR’s consideration.
Juneau, Carrot, and Cabbage Patch are three of the 16 forest stands that the BNR will vote to approve for auction on November 5.
Fitz-Hugh said that of the 16 proposed sales—which she said was a lot for one meeting—11 are considered legacy forests.
“It's clear that they're just trying to shove everything they possibly can. I suspect December will be similar. They're trying to cut as much legacy forest as they can before the new lands commissioner comes in,” Fitz-Hugh said.
“As of January, there may be someone in office whose official policy will be to not cut legacy forest, but [DNR is] going to cut as much of Thurston County's legacy forest as they can before that happens,” she added, referring to Dave Upthegrove, a candidate running for the Commissioner of Public Lands, whose priorities include preserving legacy forests.
“It's really quite anti-democratic. I would think at minimum, they could wait and see who actually wins and let the voters decide what's going to happen,” Fitz-Hugh added.
Editors note: the three mentioned land parcels are in Thurston County, the others that are mentioned are outside of Thurston County.
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longtimeresident
Who came up with the term :structurally complex"? Laughable. But not surprising.
Thursday, October 31 Report this
Southsoundguy
End democratic control of land.
Thursday, October 31 Report this
Spk5395
"Legacy Forest" is a made up term used by environmentalists. Don't fall for their propaganda.
Thursday, October 31 Report this
Boatyarddog
All "terms" are Made up silly antienviromentalists.
Legacy forests are just that, sprung forth from an Older System. Well worth keeping.
Trees provide much more than a Couple of hundred thousand dollar for our schools.
BNR has little forethought.
We should also refrain from Political banter here on this comment stream
Thursday, October 31 Report this
jratner
These precious few remaining mature trees are THE most immediate and cost effective solution for W WA to achieve our state climate goals. Respect the Thurston County Commissioners by preventing the sale of any Capitol Forest legacy forest parcels. Just like to tobacco industry spent millions to perpetuate myths, the timber industry is purposefully ignoring the science and blind sighting the public for greed.
Thursday, October 31 Report this
Donna Albert
Everyone knows DNR created this “crisis” for taxing districts by deliberately choosing to harvest legacy forests (which are uniquely valuable for biodiversity and climate, and represent a tiny percentage of DNR forest). DNR has enough harvest-ready plantation forest in Capitol State Forest to meet its harvest targets and keep taxing districts whole. The Board of Natural Resources has chosen to ignore this backward-looking, poor planning by DNR.
Thursday, October 31 Report this
hptrillium
This article is communicating facts that many are not aware of. If a Legacy forest is harvested by the timber industry and 99% of the citizenry knows nothing about it, does it still have a devastating impact on climate change? Please check these facts before calling it propaganda.
Thursday, October 31 Report this
Southsoundguy
People acting like trees don't grow.
Thursday, October 31 Report this
DalePutnam
Unless the "no cut" group(s) can come up with a way to make the county whole (i.e. provide $1.7 million in revenue to it), they should let the process put in place years ago to fund schools, etc., play out as planned. Maybe they can run some "Go Fund Me" pages and find how much support they have from the people who will pay the bill if the harvests don't occur.
Thursday, October 31 Report this
nicolegabrielle
I am very grateful to Jolt for putting out this article on this important issue. It is very time sensitive. A deeper investigation needs to occur regarding the current proposed timber sales through the DNR. It is very irresponsible for the DNR to be rushing to sell our remaining mature forests when we only have such a small percentage of real forests left. These structurally complex and biodiverse forests are irreplaceable given the current pesticide spraying utilized after logging. Not to mention the loss of these forests' Ecosystem Services. There are countless reasons as to why our forests are critical to save. They help clean and filter our air, prevent soil erosion, regenerate the soil, balance weather systems, hold cleaner water, filter and regulate the flow of water, and store carbon to name just a few of the vital benefits forest provide. The carbon storage of these forests alone should be reason enough to protect them. This is essential for mitigating our climate crisis and sustaining life on our planet. Old-growth and mature trees store much more carbon than younger forests.
There is unbiased scientific evidence showing that logging, thinning, and prescribed fires create even more dry conditions, including allowing for invasive species to grow in place of natives, which creates even more flammable conditions and destroys ecosystems.
The people of WA have no idea this is happening to their forests, and if these sales go through we will be closer to only having plantation or mono crops of trees remaining, which are unhealthy stands, and lack the biodiversity needed to maintain a healthy balanced environment. This is not a battle of "environmentalists" versus the timber industry. People are simply beginning to realize the signs, and that these consequences will affect us all.
Thursday, October 31 Report this
Esther
In the larger context, the disappearance of trees is a worldwide problem of which our little corner of the Earth is but one example. The consequences of deforestation are becoming more dire. To ignore the big picture and only focus on the extremely short term benefit of a bit of cash is tragic, and the children, who are the supposed beneficiaries of these "harvests," will suffer the most in the long run. Our government agencies should be smarter than this.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/oct/14/nature-carbon-sink-collapse-global-heating-models-emissions-targets-evidence-aoe
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/28/climate/trees-extinction-iucn-report-biodiversity.html
Thursday, October 31 Report this
Southsoundguy
So we should never cut down trees again?
Friday, November 1 Report this