Polly Dyer – Seattle • Entered by Penelope Peterson on January 16, 2025
Advocacy to stop logging of Legacy Forests in the Elwha Watershed
October 13, 2024 – October 30, 2024
Participants and Hours
| Pre Planning hours | |
| Post Admin hours | |
| Activity Hours | 1.5 |
| Participants | 21 |
| Total Hours | 31.5 |
Key Issue: Landscape Planning (Forest Plans, RMPs, TMPs, etc.)
Activity Type: Advocacy (rallies, lobbying, meeting decision makers, letters/calls/emails)
Key Partners: Center for Responsible Forestry
Measurable Outcomes
Outcome 1: Advocacy actions (14 signatures)
Outcome 2: Advocacy actions (7 comments)
Short Description of Activity
The dams were removed from the Elwha River in Olympic National Park in 2012. Since then, the Elwha River and surrounding watershed have been flourishing. Despite millions of dollars in federal investment and thousands of volunteer hours to restore the watershed post-dam-removal, Washington’s Public Lands Commissioner Hillary Franz, along with the state’s Board of Natural Resources, continued to approve hundreds of acres of logging of state Legacy Forest annually in the Elwha River watershed.
In November, 2023, our Broadband wrote and adopted the following advocacy statement about Legacy Forests:
“We strongly support the preservation of forest stands with “old growth” and “legacy forest” characteristics. These are forest stands that retain the character of mature native forests. For those forests that have been logged, the tree cutting mostly occurred before the advent of modern power equipment–generally around 1945.
Legacy Forests are structurally complex, naturally regenerated, and exhibit genetic and biological diversity. These forest stands are not only refuge for bio-diverse organisms, they are exceptionally effective carbon sinks. They also promote groundwater recharge and regulation, are fire resistant, and help to moderate the climate.
Washington State manages 1.7 million acres of forest lands in Western Washington. Only about 77,000 acres of these are unprotected legacy stands. These forest stands are significantly more valuable standing than turned into board feet. We are not trying to stop logging in Washington State. Now is the time for us to preserve these 77,000 acres of remaining legacy forests.”
Since then, we have been working to preserve these Legacy Forest by writing letters to the Department of Natural Resources and signing petitions to stop the logging auctions. We have often partnered with the Center for Responsible Forestry in these efforts.
Reflection/Evaluation
Our members signed petitions and wrote letter to advocate for the Legacy Forests. We will continue these advocacy efforts, and we are also initiating a “Field Checking” activity to survey Legacy Forests and submit these data to the Center for Responsible Forestry,