FEDERATION OF WESTERN OUTDOOR CLUBS

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SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF WASHINGTON'S STATE FORESTS 

The 2.1 million acres of forest lands that are owned by the state of Washington are managed in trust by its Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for various beneficiaries including state schools (K-12), universities, counties, and the public. The trust lands have a mandate to manage these lands with a goal of intergenerational equity. There is a conflict between managing the forests to produce short-term revenues from timber sales for the beneficiaries of the trust and protecting old-growth forests, wetlands, water, habitat for wildlife, and recreational values for the public.

A campaign has been launched to make Washington state forests sustainable. It aims to improve management of Washington's state forests by creating a national model of sustainable forestry that protects this endowment of natural resources over the long term, as well as the beneficiaries of the trust. The campaign urges:

--Protecting the remaining 80,000 acres of old-growth forest from logging;

--Setting sustainable levels of logging at rotation cycles of 120-140 years;

--Certifying Washington state forests under the guidelines of the Forest Stewardship Council to ensure sustainable management of these trust forests in perpetuity; and

--Developing additional, stable sources of funding for schools.

The Federation of Western Outdoor Clubs supports the "Sustainable Washington State Forests Campaign" and urges the Washington state Commissioner of Public Lands and the board of the Department of Natural Resources to enact these policies.

Contact: Doug Sutherland, Commissioner of Public Lands, Department of Natural Resources, Olympia, Washington (www.wa.gov/dnr)