Public Lands Commissioner Dave Upthegrove is seen during a press conference on Aug. 26, 2025, at the High Point Trailhead on Tiger Mountain, near Issaquah. (Photo by Emily Fitzgerald/Washington State Standard)
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.
Called “structurally complex forests” by the Department of Natural Resources and “legacy forests” by some conservationists, 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.
Upthegrove touted the plan as “the biggest step forward in forest conservation in a generation.”
“Doing this will allow us to continue to nurture and steward these forests, but in innovative and diverse ways that do more for climate, more for habitat, and more for the communities we serve,” he said in an interview ahead of signing Tuesday’s directive.
Timber industry groups and some conservation activists were both dissatisfied with the commissioner’s order.
Upthegrove campaigned last year on protecting this class of forests.
His ideas drew support from environmental advocates who argue that swaths of these older trees are dwindling in western Washington.
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.
‘Nothing short of devastating’
On Tuesday, the Legacy Forest Defense Coalition, one of the leading groups calling for protection of structurally complex forests, described Upthegrove’s plan as a disappointment.
“This is essentially a continuation of the status quo under the guise of a conservation victory,” said Joshua Wright, a spokesperson for the coalition. The group has sued repeatedly to stop logging sales on state land.
While the Legacy Forest Defense Coalition supports conservation of the 77,000 acres, the 29,000 acres made available for logging include plots that the group has fought to keep intact. These include shrinking tracts of complex forest land in the Capitol State Forest south of Olympia, the Chehalis River Basin and Willapa Hills.
“The majority of forests that we were most concerned about are going to be logged by this plan, and that is nothing short of devastating,” Wright said.
He said that the Legacy Forest Defense Coalition is still open to working with the Department of Natural Resources.
Industry opposition
Logging industry advocates raised concerns that the plan would take too much land out of rotation for timber sales.
“Removing these acres from sustainable harvest will mean less revenue for schools, fire districts, hospitals, and libraries that depend on trust land funds, and fewer family-wage jobs in Washington’s forest sector,” said Travis Joseph, president of the American Forest Resource Council, a regional trade organization.
The 29,000 acres of complex forests made available for sale should be enough to fulfill all of the Department of Natural Resources’ financial commitments to local governments for the next decade, according to the agency.
In the meantime, the Department of Natural Resources will work on different strategies to generate revenue from the 77,000 acres set aside for conservation, including the possible sale of credits on carbon markets.
The Department of Natural Resources oversees nearly 6 million acres of state public land, including about 3 million acres of “trust lands” that produce revenue – mostly from logging – for schools, counties and other parts of government.
The department has already set aside 1.2 million acres of its trust lands as part of the Washington Habitat Connectivity Action Plan. The 77,000 acres set aside as part of Upthegrove’s order is 12% of what was left over, according to Heath Heikkila, a lobbyist for the American Forest Resource Council.
Legacy Forest Defense Coalition takes issue with the 1.2 million-acre figure, arguing it includes strips of forest along streams and other trees that are not part of continuous blocks of forest, diminishing the benefits for wildlife and the environment.
The American Forest Resource Council estimates that the logging value of the 77,000 acres that were set aside is about $2.3 billion. The estimated economic activity that would come from logging those acres is $6 billion, the group says.
Heikkila and American Forest Resource Council spokesperson Nick Smith said Tuesday that they were concerned Upthegrove acted without completing a public process or going through the Board of Natural Resources.
The Department of Natural Resources says it doesn’t need approval from the board or the Legislature to set aside the forestland.
American Forest Resource Council intends to work with the board and lawmakers to address the fallout for industry.
Washington Forest Protection Association, which represents private forest landowners, was also critical of the new plan, noting guardrails around logging that the state already has in place.
“Artificially blocking forest management harms the environment and our local economies,” said Jason Spadaro, executive director of the group. “As a state, we need to ensure that decisions on forest management are steeped in science, not politics.”
Other groups voice support
Other environmental groups, including Conservation Northwest and Washington Conservation Action, commended Upthegrove’s approach.
“The order is an important step towards more sustainable, cost-effective and climate-smart forest management,” said Dave Werntz, science and conservation senior director, for Conservation Northwest.
Upthegrove’s order gives the Department of Natural Resources room to consider aspects of forest management other than maximizing revenue, Wentz said.
“It’s an acknowledgement that there’s more ways to manage DNR lands other than timber harvests,” he said.
Washington Conservation Action CEO Alyssa Macy spoke in support of Upthegrove’s order at the press conference where he signed it on Tuesday, at Tiger Mountain, near Issaquah.
“With climate change upon us, we need a new vision for forestry, one that takes a more holistic view,” Macy said. “We must recognize the economic value of timber, but also of the clean air, the clean water, wildlife habitat, carbon storage and cultural value of the forest lands for which our state is famous.”
Thurston County Commission Chair Tye Menser also applauded Upthegrove’s move, pointing to parts of Capitol State Forest that constituents have said they want to see protected.
“We are thrilled to hear that Thurston County’s voice has been heard,” Menser said.
“We are also happy to hear that DNR is committed to continuing to meet its responsibilities to counties, schools, libraries and fire districts as they struggle with uncertain budgets,” he added.
Lengthy process
Upthegrove said the Department of Natural Resources intends to ask the Legislature this upcoming session for more explicit authority to sell carbon market credits tied to state forests. The department will also look at ways to acquire new timberland, Upthegrove said.
This year’s pause on timber sales gave Department of Natural Resources staff time to finish an inventory project identifying and mapping older trees and structurally complex forests.
The project was initially scheduled to be finished by the end of the year, but was moved up to a June deadline. Staff ended up needing an extra month-and-a-half to complete their work, Upthegrove said.
“It gives us a much higher confidence in how many of these forests we have and where they’re located,” Upthegrove said of the mapping and analysis. “It’s a much more responsible starting place for the whole discussion.”
Washington State Standard is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Washington State Standard maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Bill Lucia for questions: info@washingtonstatestandard.com.
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