ARLINGTON — The Stilly Revisited timber sale, on state land about 13 miles northeast of Arlington, is largely filled with Douglas firs and western hemlocks — many that have lived for over a century.
In a lawsuit filed with the Snohomish County Superior Court last month, the Legacy Forest Defense Coalition and the North Cascades Conservation Council contested the 152-acre sale. The groups argued the state Department of Natural Resources is putting forests on the chopping block it is legally bound to save, as outlined in DNR’s Policy for Sustainable Forests.
“They’ve completely ignored their responsibility to restore old growth,” said Stephen Kropp, the Legacy Forest Defense Coalition’s founder. “If they’d taken a careful look at this, it’s quite likely that these trees that they are planning to log would be protected.”
Last month, DNR awarded Stilly Revisited to the Seattle-based lumber company Sierra Pacific Industries for over $3 million. The Legacy Forest Defense Coalition planned to file an injunction this month to prevent Sierra Pacific from logging the parcel during the appeal process, Kropp said.
Some revenue from the Stilly Revisited sale is expected to go to the Arlington School District, the Snohomish County Conservation Futures program and Washington State University.
DNR doesn’t comment on active litigation, but spokesperson Ryan Rodruck said the department “will submit an extensive administrative record supporting these land management decisions to the court.”
DNR defines old growth trees as those that predate 1850. Pacific Northwest ecologists have similarly found trees start to develop old growth characteristics when they’re between 175 and 250 years old. Mature forests are those close to reaching old growth status.
Mature and old growth forests often have a wide variety of plant species on a landscape that captures more carbon than less complex younger forests, according to an article in the International Journal of Wilderness. These older trees signify biodiversity, soil productivity and wildlife habitat.
Since the 18th century, logging and other developments have driven the loss of about 72% of original old growth conifer forests in the Pacific Northwest.
Fewer than 80,000 acres of old growth remain on state lands managed by DNR in Western Washington.
In 1997, DNR committed to preserve 10% to 15% of older forests within each of the agency’s planning units over the next century. As of 2021, the agency had protected about 3% of older-forest stands in the North Puget unit, which encompasses most of Snohomish County.
DNR expects to reach its older forest goal for the North Puget unit by 2070, but Kropp doesn’t have faith.
“Areas they’re saying they have set aside — about half of those are actually stream buffers,” Kropp said. “They’re not really forests. They’re rows of trees along a creek. You can’t just leave a few trees behind and call it a forest.”
‘We need to be in this together’
DNR staff excluded about 25 acres of old growth trees, some over 300 years old, from the Stilly Revisited sale units.
But mature, structurally complex trees are still set to be logged, according to DNR’s old growth assessment for the sale.
Old growth advocates, like Kate Lunceford with the League of Women Voters of Snohomish County, wish the DNR would target younger forests for harvest instead.
“We are running out of time to meet our climate goals,” she said.
For years, Lunceford and other local activists have discussed old growth issues with the Snohomish County Council, in hopes council members would send a letter to DNR in support of mature forest preservation.
County Council intervention has helped delay state timber sales in the past.
Last May, the Whatcom County Council sent a letter to Public Lands Commissioner Hillary Franz and the Board of Natural Resources, asking them to delay the Brokedown Palace timber sale until they considered protecting the forest through the Climate Commitment Act.
The state Legislature allocated $70 million from the Climate Commitment Act for DNR to set aside up to 2,000 acres of structurally complex state forestland.
Whatcom County’s letter worked. A month later, DNR delayed the sale. And by December, Franz announced the department would permanently preserve the Brokedown Palace timber parcel.
To the excitement of local activists, the Snohomish County Council sent a letter to DNR in June, requesting “an accurate and complete count” of mature and old growth forests in the county.
Council members also requested the acreage of younger forests DNR could, or has planned to, auction in the county within the next three years, as well as an older forest preservation plan for Snohomish County.
As of Monday, the council hasn’t received a response, council member Megan Dunn said in an email.
The local League of Women Voters’ chapter has started reaching out to school districts, health facilities and other organizations that typically receive revenue from timber sales through DNR’s Trust Land Transfer program, Lunceford said.
The group is hoping to coordinate listening sessions, to hear beneficiaries’ concerns regarding the future of timber sales in the county — especially the impact on rural communities whose economies depend on the industry. But the league also wants to understand what these organizations are doing to aid local conservation efforts.
Lunceford said: “We need to be in this together.”
Ta’Leah Van Sistine: 425-339-3460; taleah.vansistine@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @TaLeahRoseV
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