King County Superior Court rules that DNR violated SEPA by failing to disclose and mitigate the climate impacts of logging mature ‘legacy’ forests
Seattle – For the second time in two years, a Washington Superior Court has ruled that the Department of Natural Resources, under Hilary Franz’s leadership, is violating the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) by deforesting the last remnants of mature natural forest cover on its lands and failing to disclose or mitigate the harmful climate impacts of doing so. Despite losing on this issue in Jefferson County, DNR refused to make any substantive changes to its logging program or environmental analysis procedures under SEPA.
In this latest round, Center for Sustainable Economy, Save the Olympic Peninsula, and Legacy Forest Defense Coalition filed a lawsuit in King County Superior Court last June to halt the Wishbone Timber Sale – a 100-acre patch of carbon rich 80- to 110-year-old ‘legacy’ forests in the Tolt and Snoqualmie River basins northeast of Seattle. Legacy forests are rare, naturally regenerated stands that provide exceptional levels of carbon storage, biodiversity, and water quality. Led by Dave Upthegrove, currently running for Commissioner of Public Lands, seven members of the King County Council sent a letter to DNR supporting plaintiffs in asking for accounting of climate impacts associated with this kind of logging. Read more
Olympic Climate Action 