The Capitol Times this week discusses some of the solutions for Washington State’s problems with forest health, wildfire, and the timber industry’s recession, which have combined to decimate the rural economy.
Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark told a joint work session of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources, Ocean and Recreation and the House Committee for Agriculture and Natural Resources recently that years of diseases, pests and wildfires have hurt the timber industry’s infrastructure in Eastern Washington. With higher-than-average temperatures and drier weather, the situation in our forests becomes dangerous, Goldmark told lawmakers.
Among the several solutions discussed to remediate the current trifecta (forest health, wildfire risk and timber infrastructure decline) is the DNR Forest Biomass Initiative. The initiative seeks to supply local green energy producers with woody (forest) biomass from timber harvest slash not needed for restoration on state trust land, along with thinnings from over-crowded, fire-prone forests.
