Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Timber And Wildfire topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Wildfire prevention and timber policy at center of lands commissioner debate
Summary
Candidates diverged on managing older forests, maintaining timber harvests for school trust revenue, and the use of acquisitions to offset deferred harvests; both emphasized prevention and tribal consultation.
At a Spokane forum for Washington’s commissioner of public lands, the two candidates laid out differing strategies for wildfire prevention and timber revenue — a central tension for an agency that manages millions of acres for trust beneficiaries.
Jamie Herrera Butler tied forest restoration and active management to wildfire prevention and school funding, saying that managed harvest receipts can fund hazardous fuels reduction and local schools. She warned that large set-asides can lead to mismanagement and cited the federal 'set it aside and walk away' approach as ineffective.
Dave Updegrove said he would defer harvest on a targeted, small group of older forests while sustaining overall harvest levels by shifting timber sales to other parcels in the same taxing districts and by acquiring replacement timberlands. "My plan is to maintain and sustain our existing harvest levels by harvesting in different parcels in those same taxing districts," he said.
The candidates disputed the scale and effect of set-asides: Butler said Updegrove’s proposal would remove about 80,000 acres "on day 1" and predicted job losses; Updegrove responded that deferrals for a small subset do not preclude active management for forest health and biodiversity and that long-term acquisitions could preserve funding streams.
The moderator cited a DNR backlog of about 445,000,000 board feet over the past decade; the candidates agreed the backlog is a concern and proposed administrative and policy changes to address it. Butler repeatedly pressed Updegrove to identify which parcels he would harvest to make up for any deferred acreage; Updegrove said he would harvest other parcels and pursue acquisitions.
Both candidates emphasized the importance of tribal consultation, collaboration with the timber industry, and monitoring to measure treatment effectiveness. Several numeric claims about jobs, revenue and acreage were offered during the exchange; those figures were presented by the candidates and are not independently verified in the forum record.
The forum did not produce a policy decision; it provided voters a window into how each candidate would balance wildfire risk, biodiversity, and the agency’s fiduciary obligations to school beneficiaries if elected.
