Comment: Working forests are healthy forests with many benefits

By Joel Dryden / For The Herald

With 23 million acres of forestland here in Washington state, we’ve earned the title of The Evergreen State, and we have some of the toughest forest practices regulations in the world to help us continue to maintain and protect the iconic forests we love.

Our state Department of Natural Resources works hard to manage 2.1 million acres of state-owned forestland to provide vital social, economic and environmental benefits for today and for future generations, just as my responsibility is to manage private forestlands in Snohomish and Skagit counties.

As a professional forester, I work with a long-term vision, planning, planting and nurturing forests, much of which won’t reach maturity in my lifetime.

Locally sourced wood products are key to building homes and creating quality jobs that sustain rural communities. At the same time, revenue from state timberland sales funds essential services like schools, law enforcement and first responders. Yet, when outside environmental groups use misleading terms like “legacy forest,” they undermine this balance. These unscientific arguments, which are not grounded in sustainable forest management practices, are used to disrupt DNR timber sales, which in turn directly harms small communities reliant on timber revenue.

Advocates pushing to halt timber sales argue that naturally regenerated forests should be “preserved,” regardless of their ecological state. But this assumption is flawed. Naturally regenerated forests do not inherently offer more habitat benefits than replanted ones. Suggesting otherwise is simply misinformation, and not backed by science.

About half our state lands are forever off-limits to active management. These trust lands sit amid 9.3 million acres of federally owned forests in Washington, most of which are also closed to harvest.

The impact of this dangerous rhetoric has been devastating. In Snohomish, Skagit and Whatcom counties, DNR’s data shows timber revenue in 2022 and 2023 for these communities have gone down an average of 53 percent, 38 percent and 28 percent, respectively.

Some suggest that harvest lands can simply be “swapped” with other areas to make up for lost revenue. This is not reality. Harvests are carefully planned based on scientific principles, forest rotation and community input to ensure both economic benefits and environmental protections. Forestry is not a game of Tetris, and to suggest otherwise is to ignore the complexities and expertise required to manage these landscapes. Nor can DNR simply purchase more land to make up for these losses with the state facing a $5.1 billion shortfall.

Continually shrinking the workable land base for timber production on state-managed lands simply puts more pressure on private timberlands, both locally and out-of-state, to produce the shortage. All the while the trust beneficiaries are the ones who truly suffer.

Responsible, science-based forest management is vital for maintaining the health of Washington’s forests and the communities that depend on them. Research shows that unmanaged forests have lower rates of carbon sequestration and suffer three times the tree mortality of managed forests. They are also more vulnerable to catastrophic wildfires, which release millions of tons of carbon dioxide and degrade air quality.

DNR-managed lands must continue to be actively managed using modern, science-based forest practices to keep them healthy, productive, and resilient. Our legacy should be one of responsible stewardship of our natural resources that are in our backyard; where forests are managed to support communities, bolster the economy, and contribute to affordable housing while also protecting clean air, water, and wildlife habitat for future generations.

We as humans all use wood products in some way, so not support the use of a local resource that is being responsibly managed, compared to importing wood from out of state or country that likely has far less protection on its harvest and management.

Joel Dryden is a forester and serves as the senior vice president of operations and general manager of Pilchuck Tree Farm. In business for 76 years, the company is a third-generation, family-owned operation with property near Stanwood and Arlington.