John,

Washington’s forests have incredible potential to mitigate the impacts of the climate crisis by sequestering large amounts of carbon from the atmosphere and storing it for decades in trees and soil.

The state’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) manages over two million acres of public forestland in Washington—some of the most carbon-dense ecosystems on the planet—and yet has no explicit policy on how to incorporate climate and carbon science into management decisions.

The Board of Natural Resources, which sets the policies that guide DNR, has the unique ability to directly influence the amount of carbon that is stored in and released from our state’s forests.

Urge the Board to adopt a formal, stand-alone policy or rule that guides the management of DNR-managed state forests in the face of climate change.

In June 2019, WCV and Washington Environmental Council requested that the Board of Natural Resources develop and adopt a formal carbon policy to address climate change on the forests DNR manages. We need our members to tell the Board that this matters to Washingtonians.

Every aspect of forest management affects and is affected by climate change. The impacts are occurring today and are rapidly getting more severe. DNR’s Policy for Sustainable Forests, adopted in 2006, mentions “climate change” and “carbon” only once, and that’s not enough. The agency needs a policy to account for and address climate change.

This crisis requires bold and fast action from state leaders, and we need your help reaching them. Act now and send an email to the Board and Commissioner Franz!

Onward,

Sally Paul
Evergreen Forests Program Associate