We’re glad to see forest health issues in Washington state get attention in a recent column in the Seattle PI.
It is no coincidence that devastating fires, such as the Tripod Complex in 2006, tend to hit areas with large numbers of trees killed or weakened by forest pests and diseases.
Here is more detail on the forest health funding that aims to address this situation:
$4 million in federal stimulus funding. This is mostly for private forestlands and includes: $1.2 million that will be distributed this spring and summer for forest health projects, and $2.4 million for wildfire fuels reduction funding already being distributed to qualifying landowners. About $350,000 is for state trust lands managed by DNR.
$2 million in the state capital budget funds. These funds are for forest health and wildfire prevention activities on state, private, and other lands in Washington state. It’s about half the amount that DNR requested, so the distribution is still being worked out. The funds will go to help improve forest health condition in areas where bugs, drought and disease are problems, including the Loomis State Forest and others. The projects also will help the DNR Forest Biomass Initiative. As the forests are treated, such as by removing diseased trees and thinning out overstocked tree stands, it will create more biomass supply that DNR can market to private sector biomass green energy producers. See a map of our current partnerships located in Omak, Bingen, Colville, and Port Angeles.
Oh, and the prospect of a British Columbia-scale forest bug infestation in Washington state? Yes, we have had quite a big problem with mountain pine beetle in eastern Washington, the same bug that has killed all those B.C. trees. The damage has gotten worse recently. But the underlying risks to our forests are very different simply because our forests are more diverse. For each kind of tree there is a specialized beetle, bug or disease that can kill them. DNR is on the watch and ready to take action against the kind of widespread forest devastation that has occurred in British Columbia. Check out our 2009 Forest Health Highlights to see how we’re tracking the little buggers.
All this — along with a drier winter in many parts of the Eastside — is good reason to be extra careful with fire in the outdoors this year. The state’s wildfire season officially started yesterday.
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