Yesterday, I spoke to the Forks Chamber of Commerce about Washington's business climate. Forks is 158 miles northwest of Olympia, and the road to Forks takes one through some of the most scenic and productive forestlands in the world.
Forestry is making a comeback on the Olympic Peninsula after being devastated by federal rulings on the spotted owl. Logging is occurring on private lands and the replanted Douglas fir, hemlock and western red cedar is growing at a record pace. Often, you can tell how productive forestland is by the tops of trees and young tops (referred to as "leader") are some of the lengthiest I seen.
Very little logging and reforestation occurs on public lands, state or federal. What is evident along Highway 101 is forests on public lands -- whether they be on state trust lands managed by the Dept. of Natural Resources, the Olympic National Forest or Olympic National Park -- have significantly more blown down than those on private lands. Many of those older or weakened trees that would be thinned in a managed forest actually fell across Highway 101---the main transportation artery between Hoquiam and Port Angeles.
I'm not saying we should clear cut it all or fail to manage forests for other values, but we should not lock it away and believe it will be there forever to admire. Forests and trees live and go through life cycles. There are areas on public lands to log, replant and manage. There are areas where nature should be left alone and we ought to recognize the risks of doing that -- like trees falling across trails, roads and highways. When I worked for the Forest Service clearing trail in Montana, these weakened trees were called "widowmakers" for good reason.
Here is one final thought. If we are interested in biofuels and generating electricity from wood wastes like is happening with a wood-fired generating plant near Kettle Falls in northeast Washington, then there may be enough wood wastes if federal and state lands once designated for forest management -- including harvesting, thinning and replanting -- were put back into the inventory. It would help meet the goal of 15% of our state's electricity from renewables and add many new jobs in a job starved area of our state.
