The Washington State Department of Natural Resources released its annual Forest Health Highlights report on Wednesday following a 2023 aerial detection survey that mapped 517,000 acres of forests with some level of tree mortality, defoliation, or foliar diseases. …Though the 2023 Forest Health Highlights report documents the fewest acres affected as part of a complete survey since 2018, it also contains several concerning trends and new data points underscoring the forest health crisis in Washington. One of the most concerning datapoints comes courtesy of the Douglas-fir engraver. Scientists mapped 25,600 acres of tree damage attributed to this bark beetle – the largest amount recorded by an aerial survey in Washington since 1969 and nearly 20 percent more than the 20,300 acres observed in 2019. Douglas-fir engraver damage signatures such as dead tops and branch flagging…