Here, in King County, right now, 100 year old forests, deemed “Forest Legacy“, are being auctioned off by The Department of Natural Resources to timber corporations. Our forests, owned by the people, for the people, are being cut for “sustainable energy“. After Biden’s climate pledging, he came to Washington State to let the country, and the world know sustained timber production would contribute carbon offsets for companies, and offer protection for old growth trees. Here’s the DNR definition of old growth-
Two key things stick out for me- “prior to 1850”, and “5 acres or larger”. There are very few acres of land left in our country not cut since 1850. This date is selected (for Western Washington) based on per-industrial logging. Not much land here was saved from logging, so the only way to bring back old growth is to let current younger trees grow. So, the 100 year old stands, which are moving towards older, not the thousands of years true old growth was, but something moving towards older, these forests are not old growth, and will be cut. Where are the acres for future old growth happening? No where. Forest Legacy does not mean an old growth legacy for the future generations, it simply means the commercial timber rights will be honored, and the land will not be developed. What a joke- no ecological protection, just commercial revenue. What about carbon sequestering? Sure sure- it’s in the wood, and even after that tree is cut down, that carbon is banked- in construction, of more development. Ironic really, and nothing new in the co-opting of sustainability by extraction industry.
Most of the commercial forests cut today go into “per-manufactured”, “multi layer” construction materials- of solid wood. What? multi layer is particle board, or veneers, or a stack of 2x4s compressed together under extreme pressure and pumped full of laminate chemicals. But wood is sustainable- we can just keep planting new ones after we cut and haul off the old ones right? What? Where does the fertility to grow these new trees come from? An intact forest has hundreds of years- no, thousands of years worth of decaying biomass in the soil from continued lifecycle of trees that fell and lay down their fertility to make more soil for future trees. When you take the trees out, you take the fertility and carbon with them, leaving the soil that’s left to erode- as happened in the early 1900s as timber harvesting became industrialized with the arrival of rail and coal power. Even today, 80 year old trees at EEC Forest Stewardship have a 3-4 foot drop from the base of the tree into it’s root ball.
What about fire danger? Well, intact old growth forest holds a heck of a lot of water- like a sponge, that 4 feet or more of forest floor mulch is soaking up the water and keeping it on the landscape, in the soil, and replenishing the water table. Once it’s cut and gone, the rains rush down hill to the ocean, leaving the land more vulnerable to fire, and drying up wells and waterways, making the land impossible for any life. What about the need for paper products? The US has so much land, so much ability to produce enough for our country, but we are lazy- not wanting to develop new forests, we look to the old growth that’s left and think about the short term gains. Sadly, the land is already spent, and what’s left, the very last, is being carved up and sold off. Can you help? YES! Contact local organizations like:
The Center for Sustainable Economy -these folk are directly involved in litigation to protect older forest stands, including WISHBONE.
Legacy Forest Defense Coalition -Also involved in the litigation to save WISHBONE, this oversight group holds timber companies and The Department of Natural Resources accountable by outing the sales of old growth trees.
Center for Responsible Forestry -Creating better guidelines for the timber industry to protect what’s left of our climaxed forest ecology.
Save The Olympic Peninsula -This 501c3 is working to protect natural resources for public benefit instead of corporate greed and commercial abuse. They are also supporting the litigation over WISHBONE.
EEC Forest Stewardship 