I recognize and value The Herald Editorial Board’s commitment to helping support important economic stakeholders in Washington, and the role of history, precedent and tradition in public institutions such as Department of Natural Resources. I do think it is past time to recognize that some of our most cherished values will need updating in the face of the reality of global warming.
This is not just a new “player” in the “game”; it is really the whole game, as will become increasingly and catastrophically apparent with passing time. The impact of this warming is inherently exponential; every disastrous and unprecedented climate-related event (fires, floods, landslides, storms, species loss, etc) will be followed by yet more catastrophic event at ever-decreasing intervals.
Our legal and social institutions have evolved and adapted to this pace of change, but we must at once get serious about adapting to a much more unforgiving environment, and this means re-calibrating our actions to match the tempo of threat which we have unwittingly loosed upon our precious planet.
Your role in delaying our effective response to this urgent threat should be clear. The science on the carbon-storing capacity of older, mature ecosystems favors keeping them right where they are, along with the all of the micro- and macro-flora and fauna that depend on them. Get serious about protecting the tiny percentage of state lands that these older growth stands represent.
Please, please stop all clear-cutting of mature old-growth forests in our state; the remaining 90-plus percent of state lands remains at the disposal of the conscientious stewardship of the DNR in supporting the many beneficiaries the law has recognized.
Don and Paula Dillinger
Snohomish
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