Matt Comisky / American Forest Resources Council
The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is rushing to approve a “carbon project” to lease 10,000 acres of forested state trust land in western Washington to private interests under the guise of reducing carbon emissions. I’m in.
Instead of selling wood to local manufacturers as required by law, the Carbon Scheme intends to sell “carbon credits” on the voluntary unregulated carbon market at a fraction of the fair market value. increase. The plan would effectively close thousands of acres of working forest to help “greenwash” polluters while ignoring his DNR’s true fiduciary duty to trust land beneficiaries. increase.
The scheme will provide beneficiaries, including Lewis County, with opportunities to improve public school facilities, purchase emergency equipment for firefighters and first responders, support libraries (such as the Timberland Regional Library), and maintain county roads. Costs among other public priorities without additional taxes. .
DNR expects carbon leasing to generate approximately 90% less revenue than traditional timber harvesting. However, government agencies have not fully analyzed the impact of the project on funding schools and other public services. This analysis is not only required by the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA), but is also at the core of her DNR’s fiduciary duty to the designated beneficiaries of the trust estates. The Washington State Supreme Court recently reaffirmed the fiduciary and fiduciary duties that the DNR owes to its beneficiaries through its administration of state trust lands.
The DNR recently rejected requests from beneficiaries, local governments, state legislators and the forest department to extend the comment period to give stakeholders more time to analyze and comment on the project. We have now closed the short SEPA public comment period of 14 days. The DNR also includes an April 19 letter from legislative leaders and an April 25 letter from 22 lawmakers in central and eastern Washington expressing concerns about the project and lack of public transparency. , failed to respond to letters from about 20 lawmakers.
Government agencies have ignored calls from Lewis County and other beneficiaries to consider how the scheme will affect Washington’s environment, communities, wildlife, and the current and future management of these working forests. Explain properly and legally. The project also compromises the forest infrastructure needed to address forest health issues and reduce the risk of devastating wildfires and associated emissions. The department should analyze this potential outcome and how it might affect the environment and local communities.
Such analyzes clearly show that stopping the management of our working forests is the wrong solution to climate change. It has been found to be more effective in capturing and storing atmospheric carbon in wood products. Instead, “no management” policies result in higher carbon emissions and reduced wood supplies, at the expense of rural communities and public service providers.
Leakage is when a decrease in wood supply is replaced by an increase in wood production from other forest owners, other parts of the United States, and other countries. Substitution occurs when wood products are unavailable or have become too expensive, so carbon-intensive building products such as concrete and steel are substituted for wood products. None of these alternatives are beneficial to the environment or communities that benefit from managing these lands.
The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have identified science-based sustainable forest management and the use of long-term wood products for construction as key tools for mitigating atmospheric carbon. identified. .
Even the Washington Legislature at RCW 70A.45.090 recognizes an important role. The forest products sector contributes to reducing carbon emissions. Sustainable forest management is essentially about harvesting, planting, growing, and harvesting harvested wood with about 50% less carbon by weight to produce the wood products we use every day, especially buildings. It means repeating the never-ending cycle of turning it into a product.
By removing state trust lands from timber management, the DNR breaks the cycle of sustainable forest management and supports plans that benefit wealthy polluters rather than reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Climate change leadership is not tree protection in shortsighted, politically driven carbon agendas. Real climate leadership is sustainable harvesting to ensure that local wood products are here to meet housing and construction needs, along with other wood products we use for current and future generations. We are working hard to meet the levels. The DNR must not only reward polluters, but also be held accountable for schemes that fail beneficiaries of Lewis County and other state trust lands. not.
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Matt Comisky is the Washington Manager for the American Forest Resource Council. As a forestry engineer, forester, and policy analyst, Comisky has spent nearly 25 years working in the forest products sector for public and private land managers in Washington State. He currently oversees the US Forest Resources Council’s Washington state work program related to DNR-administered trust lands and the US Forest Service.
