Two weeks after countries pledged their support to forests in Paris, Paula Swedeen and Joe Kane took a photographer and me for a hike in the Mount Rainier Gateway Reserve, a forest owned by the Nisqually Land Trust, of which Kane is the executive director. On our drive to the high reaches of the reserve we encountered a man named Donnie, who was on his way to the property’s ridgeline. Donnie wore jeans and a blue cotton sweater, an attire choice that grew more unfortunate as the falling snow accumulated.
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Washington Environmental Council and Washington Conservation Voters release their annual State of Forests and Public Lands report, which is an annual evaluation of Washington’s Commissioner of Public Lands, Hilary Franz, and the Department of Natural Resources.

- Evergreen Forests
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Washington State Supreme Court Rules in Conservation Northwest v Commissioner of Public Lands
This unanimous decision recognizes that the DNR can integrate the many diverse public benefits of forests into the management of state forestlands, beyond maximizing revenue generation from timber harvests.

- Evergreen Forests
- Litigation
Conservation groups, residents argue before Washington Supreme Court that State Forests must be managed for “all the people”
Rural residents from across Washington, educators and conservationists ask Court to interpret the plain terms of the State Constitution providing that “all the public lands granted to the state are held in trust for all the people”.