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Candidates spar over wildfire prevention, timber policy and trust revenues in Spokane debate
Summary
In a Spokane forum, Jamie Herrera Butler and Dave Updegrove offered competing visions for managing Washington state lands — Butler emphasized active restoration and harvest to fund schools, Updegrove argued for targeted set-asides plus alternative harvest strategies and broader revenue sources.
Jamie Herrera Butler and Dave Updegrove debated management of Washington’s public lands at a candidate forum in Spokane on March 2, focusing on wildfire prevention, timber harvest policy and the use of state trust lands to fund schools.
Moderator Bill Lucia opened the event with an overview of the commissioner’s role and the Department of Natural Resources’ responsibilities, noting the agency manages roughly 6,000,000 acres and reported about $474,000,000 in total revenue in fiscal 2023.
Butler, a Republican and former U.S. representative, framed her candidacy around restoring forest health to reduce wildfire risk and protect communities from smoke and loss. “We must do better,” she said, arguing that collaborative restoration and active management will sequester carbon and sustain revenue for schools.
Updegrove, the King County Council chair, said prevention is the most cost-effective part of emergency management and backed a mix of controlled burns, thinning and effectiveness monitoring. He described a plan to defer harvest on a small subset of older forests while maintaining funding by harvesting other parcels and acquiring replacement timberlands.
The candidates clashed over the idea of setting aside about 80,000 acres of older forests. Butler warned that large set-asides can leave forests mismanaged and deprive rural communities of timber revenue; Updegrove said targeted deferrals can improve biodiversity and climate benefits without reducing overall harvest levels.
They also debated the department’s timber-sale backlog and its implications for school funding. Butler repeatedly pressed Updegrove to identify the parcels he would harvest to replace lost revenue. Updegrove said he would harvest other parcels in the same taxing districts and pursue land acquisitions to sustain trust receipts.
On alternative uses of land, Updegrove proposed a clean-energy trust to acquire and lease sites for utility-scale projects; both candidates agreed on the need for early tribal consultation and careful siting. They also discussed a DNR pilot carbon-sequestration project that is currently in litigation — Butler declined to comment on the litigation itself, and Updegrove described the pilot as worth exploring administratively.
The forum ended with closing statements and a reminder from the moderator to vote in November.
