State foresters are reckoning with a six-month delay imposed on the sale and harvest of older groves by new Washington Commissioner of Public Lands Dave Upthegrove.
Upthegrove made a campaign promise during the 2024 election to set aside mature forestland for conservation, and his announcement of the timber sale pause on Monday, Jan. 17 was his first action in office. The state Department of Natural Resources identified and delayed 23 sales scheduled for auction in the first half of 2025 that included forests defined as Maturation II, meaning older and more biodiverse forests.
The commissioner said the purpose of the pause is to give the agency time to identify and map forests to meet its policy of conserving 10–15% of structurally complex forests.
“I know how essential timber is to Washington, and DNR foresters are on the cutting edge of ensuring harvests are done sustainably and responsibly,” Upthegrove said in a statement on Jan. 17. “But with so much contention regarding recent timber sales, it’s apparent we need to stop, take a breath and revisit how to meet the targets laid out in the agency’s timber management plans. This pause does not mean Washington will harvest less — it will simply lead to a change to where we harvest and the type of forests we conserve.”
The contention the commissioner was referring to is lawsuits — and a lot of them. Since 2023, the Legacy Forest Defense Coalition has challenged 32 approved timber sales across the state, including the Little Lilly sale in Whatcom County.
The timber sale pause, combined with a federal funding freeze and the state’s multi-billion dollar deficit, has led to an uncertainty that Cory McDonald, the proprietary forester for the DNR Northwest Region, called “pretty harrowing” during a Whatcom County Forestry Advisory Committee on Feb. 3.
He explained in a follow-up interview that state lands are generally self-funded but other DNR programs and staffing may be at risk, which could have a “cascading effect” on the department.
DNR receives a significant amount of federal funding for firefighting, recreation, forest health and wildfire, all of which could be in jeopardy due to the president’s order that halted grants from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act.
Timber sale value
While the total appraised value of the 23 paused timber sales is nearly $27 million, so far this fiscal year (starting in July 2024) winning bids have been on average 50% over the appraised price.
In the Northwest Region, encompassing much of Snohomish, Skagit, Island, San Juan and Whatcom counties, only two sales were included in Upthegrove’s order, and one has been reinstated, McDonald said.
Red Rehab, on 72 acres south of Sumas, was slated for harvest to improve the health of a “wildfire-prone and rapidly dying stand.” The sale will be auctioned off at the end of April and is only appraised at $57,000, a small portion of which will go to Mount Baker School District.
The other Northwest Region sale that is still paused, called Honest Abe, is on 50 acres in Skagit County south of Sedro-Woolley and contains around 5 acres of Maturation II forest. The sale is appraised at $1.4 million and would generate at least $96,000 for the Sedro-Woolley School District and $321,000 for Skagit County government.
McDonald said he’s concerned that to continue fulfilling its mandate while preserving mature forests, DNR will need to cut more younger trees.
“I’m definitely interested to see what, if any, policies happen and how they affect the critical balance of volume available to us,” McDonald said.
During a state Board of Natural Resources meeting on Feb. 4, representatives from the logging and wood product industry warned the board against significant delays or disruptions.
“These operations simply can’t take six months off of securing materials,” said Heath Heikkila with the American Forest Resource Council.
But conservation groups have celebrated the pause. RE Sources Land & Water Policy Manager Kaia Hayes said her organization sees it as an opportunity to “slow down and zoom out from the ‘timber-sale-by-timber-sale’ mentality” and find compromise.
“There are some complex questions to answer that require creative solutions, and it does everyone a disservice to try to tackle them without taking our foot off of the gas pedal,” Hayes wrote in an email to Cascadia Daily News. “We need everyone’s perspectives to prepare us for the future we’re inheriting — what does it really look like to manage forests for climate resilience and sustainable economy? A six-month window to reflect and plan for these realities more intentionally is a modest measure with very real potential.”
Julia Tellman writes about civic issues and anything else that happens to cross her desk; contact her at juliatellman@cascadiadaily.com.
