WA lands commissioner moves 77,000 acres of older state forests into conservation

Eight months after Public Lands Commissioner Dave Upthegrove entered office and paused logging sales in older forests on state land, Washington’s Department of Natural Resources has identified 77,000 acres to set aside for conservation.

Called “structurally complex forests” by the Department of Natural Resources and “legacy forests” by some conservationists, these older forests aren’t quite old enough to qualify for old-growth protections but are biologically diverse and naturally resistant to wildfire.

Under Upthegrove’s plan, 29,000 acres of the forests will remain available for harvest. Most of the roughly two-dozen timber sales paused will proceed.

“Doing this will allow us to continue to nurture and steward these forests, but in innovative and diverse ways that do more for climate,