Washington to Protect the Old-Growth Forests of Tomorrow, Creates 77,000 Acres of ‘Legacy Forests’

In Washington state, a new Public Lands Commissioner has announced that 77,000 acres of special forests will be taken off the state’s logging rotation for conservation purposes.

These “legacy forests,” as they’re being called, are in a state of growth between secondary forests and old growth forests. They’re defined as one which was logged before World War II, but has since been allowed to grow, settle, and diversify, and contains large amount of biodiversity and more space between trees.

They could be thought of a little like a “coming of age forest” or the old growth forests of the 22nd century.

The astonishingly and aptly named Commissioner, David Upthegrove, said that legacy forests conserve more carbon than secondary growth forests, and anchor more of the state’s biodiversity.

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