When Commissioner of Public Lands Dave Upthegrove announced that he was locking away 77,000 acres of Washington’s 106,000 acres of structurally complex forests — including roughly 10,000 acres of older state-managed stands — he called it a “bold” step.
From our view, it was reckless — and it doesn’t even accomplish what he claims. Locking away forests doesn’t preserve them, doesn’t help capture carbon, and doesn’t create the diverse early-growth habitats our environment actually needs.
With the stroke of a pen, the commissioner sidelined rural voices and jeopardized the economic foundation of entire communities, bypassing the normal public comment process that would have given them a say.
Timber revenues have long paid for schools, fire districts and county services. Yet since taking office, the commissioner has been unwilling to engage in dialogue with the communities most impacted. Instead of pulling local voices to the table, he shut them out and delivered this decision from the top down.
The fallout is real.
Our kids are returning to schools that look much the same as they did when our grandparents walked their halls — outdated, underfunded and in dire need of improvements. In rural communities, classrooms without air conditioning or modern upgrades are a symbol of how state policies have failed to prioritize the very students these revenues were meant to serve.
Across Southwest Washington, mills that should be running full shifts are cutting hours or closing doors because logs simply aren’t available. These aren’t abstract numbers — they’re paychecks lost, mortgages missed and families forced to leave communities where their roots run generations deep.
And because timber revenues fund schools, children are left in crumbling classrooms while Olympia strips away one of the few stable funding sources they have.
The Department of Natural Resources admits that its timber program is now at its lowest output in 20 years. The commissioner points to speculative markets, such as carbon credits and water leases, as the answer, but even his own department warns that these ideas lack the legal footing, staffing and expertise to be effective.
Families can’t pay their bills, and schools can’t keep the lights on with promises of revenue that may never materialize.
And let’s be clear: Locking up these forests is not even an environmental win.
Older stands left unmanaged do not preserve trees — they eventually decay and release carbon back into the atmosphere. They sequester less carbon than actively managed forests, heighten wildfire risks and prevent the creation of new early-growth habitats critical to biodiversity.
In other words, this decision does not protect the environment; it undermines it.
By cutting off responsible harvests, the state reduces the supply of renewable wood products — the very materials needed to build homes — while forcing us to import more timber from other states and nations with weaker standards.
That’s not conservation; it’s outsourcing environmental impact while hollowing out our own communities.
What’s more troubling is that this decision isn’t happening in isolation.
Democrats in Olympia applauded the commissioner’s order, calling it “a bold step” while ignoring the consequences for classrooms, budgets and jobs in rural Washington.
At the same time, Democrats just passed the largest tax increases in state history. What does it say about their priorities when they continue to make Washington families pay for failed budgeting, especially in rural districts, while also stripping away the natural revenue sources those same communities rely on?
House Republicans believe our forests can be both healthy and working. That means active management to reduce fire risk, sustainable harvests that fund schools and local government, and policies that keep family-wage natural resource jobs here in Washington. We can balance environmental stewardship with economic necessity, but only if rural voices are given a voice.
This decision could strip nearly $300 million from rural counties — funding that was supposed to keep teachers in classrooms, deputies on the road and local services functioning.
For communities already struggling to do more with less, this isn’t just a budget cut; it’s an attack on their stability and their children’s future.
It is not leadership to gamble with livelihoods in Lewis, Cowlitz, Skamania, Wahkiakum, Pacific, Grays Harbor counties and beyond. It is not bold to ignore the people who live closest to these forests and know them best.
We will continue to fight for balance — for management that protects forests and supports people. These decisions hurt real people and don’t advance healthy forests.
Washington deserves leadership that sees the whole picture: kids who need safe schools, families who need jobs, and communities that need hope as much as they need timber.
Rep. Kevin Waters represents Washington’s 17th Legislative District. Rep. Peter Abbarno represents the 20th Legislative District and is the House Republican caucus chair.
