working group

washington State Lands

June 29, 2023: Washington Conservation Groups Call on Lands Commissioner Franz to Preserve Our Remaining Mature Forests

Read the letter and add your voice in support here.

With their unanimous ruling in Conservation Northwest v. Commissioner of Public Lands, the “All the People” case, the State Supreme Court found that Washington State has great latitude and discretion in how the State’s “trust mandate” is carried out. The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is not required to maximize revenue from logging, and has multiple ways it can create benefits for beneficiaries and the broader public. 

Now that the Court’s ruling has clarified that DNR has great flexibility in how state forests are managed, we call for seven transformative actions to support rural communities and emphasize forest health, biodiversity and climate protection.

The mission of our workgroup is to give the public a constructive voice in promoting Washington’s forests to address the climate crisis, identify and promote policies to best manage our forests in light of this crisis, and oppose policies that work against best management practices. We accomplish these goals by reaching out to researchers, practitioners, policymakers, stakeholders, governments, sovereign nations, and communities around the state. Our initial focus is on forest practice activities on state trust lands.