David Upthegrove

Eight months after Public Lands Commissioner Dave Upthegrove entered office and paused logging sales in older forests on state land, Washington’s Department of Natural Resources has identified 77,000 acres to set aside for conservation. …these older forests aren’t quite old enough to qualify for old-growth protections but are biologically diverse and naturally resistant to wildfire. Under Upthegrove’s plan, 29,000 acres of the forests will remain available for harvest. Most of the roughly two-dozen timber sales paused will proceed. …Timber industry groups and some conservation activists were both dissatisfied with the commissioner’s order. …But industry was opposed, making a case that larger, older timber is needed for certain wood products, like power poles, and that pulling lands back from logging would hurt jobs and mills. …the Legacy Forest Defense Coalition, one of the leading groups calling for protection of structurally complex forests, described Upthegrove’s plan as a disappointment.  

Press Release by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources: Forest Forward – A New Direction For Our Forests